The incredible moment a woman unexpectedly gave birth to her daughter while on her front porch was captured by a doorbell camera.
Natasha Downing, 34, was 39 weeks pregnant and heading out to the car to go to hospital when her suddenly waters broke on the doorstep. She quickly squatted down and with the support of her husband, Tom, gave birth to a baby girl, Lilybella.
The mum, from Calabasas in California, said: "I'm walking down the stairs and I feel my baby coming. I had to squat down outside and then my waters break. I knew I wasn't making it to the birthing centre."
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On the morning of the birth, she visited her midwife at around 11:30am and had a membrane sweep (a common procedure that is used to help induce labour naturally) as Natasha wanted to give birth at a birthing centre. After being sent home by the midwife, however, her labour started a few hours later.
Although she began having contractions every three minutes, she wasn't in any pain and called the midwife, who lived 15 minutes away, to let her know that she was now in labour. Soon the pain increased and the contractions shortened to just one minute apart.
The severe pain led to the Natasha ending her call with the midwife. She and Tom decided to wait 30 minutes but within a couple of minutes her contractions became too painful for her to stand - she knew it was time to go to hospital. With contractions shortening again, this time to just 10 seconds, her entire labour was over within just one hour.
Tom ran around the house collecting belongings, packed the car and got ready to take his wife to the birthing centre. Realising she couldn't move, Natasha struggled to even put her clothes on.
Waiting for a few minutes to give her enough time to get up, she decided to make a move down the stairs. But then the baby started to come. Natasha screamed for nitrous oxide and asked her husband to call the midwife back as she needed the pain relief badly.
As she walked downstairs she instantly felt her baby coming and managed to just make it outside of her front door. Squatting down on the porch, Natasha's waters then broke and Tom crouched down to soon see their baby's head poking out. He called the midwife, while Natasha's dad called 911 for more help.
Lilybella was born at 6:25pm and weighing a healthy 10lbs (4.5kg. The midwife and paramedics soon arrived at the scene to check over both mum and baby. Natasha explained how, despite the chaos, the birth was one of the best experiences of her life.
She said: "She was perfectly healthy, it was everything I had ever dreamed of this was everything I had wanted for both of my births - it sounds like it would be a traumatic birth, but it was very healing and really amazing. After I hung up the phone on the midwife, I decided to wait 30 minutes and then as soon as the call ended, within two minute my contractions were too painful for me to stand.
"I wasn't able to stand or move and there was no way I was getting clothes on and no way I was making it to the birthing centre. I was walking down the stairs and I feel my baby coming. I just felt my body pushing her down.
"The brain isn't working the way it is when you're normal and cognizant. I just kept screaming at him at Tom to get nitrous oxide and tell the midwife to get it ready, as I'm thinking I can't get there. I got past the front door, I squatted down and my water breaks, to which then my husband crouches and see's the baby's head poking out of me.
"I got into the squat, and I just breathed like I just did not push at all, and her heads cleared on her own. As my husband looked, he told me the baby's blue and only her head was out, and I feel her pushing backward.
"I didn't know how she was going to clear in this position. So, I got on my side and I'm lying with my leg in the air. I was on call to my midwife, and all I know is I have to push to clear her shoulders.
"My husband got her head and it's amazing. My neighbour ran out and pulled my head onto her lap and came out with towels. It's like a wave going through my body and that was my only push, and she came out and she was totally fine.
"One push and she came out, and I gave birth at 6:25pm. My midwives arrived, and I birth the placenta when they came. The midwives checked the baby and gave her a vitamin K shot and I stayed home."
