Just when you thought 2020 couldn't throw any more curveballs, how about adding a baby, born in a carpark, into the mix?
In the early hours of last Thursday morning, when the temperature reached a cool -5 degrees Celsius in Canberra, Samantha Noordhuis gave birth to baby number three in a hospital carpark.
"We were in the Canberra Hospital carpark when bub decided to arrive," Ms Noordhuis told ABC Radio Canberra's breakfast program on Tuesday.
"We were very close to giving birth on the [Tuggeranong] Parkway but we managed to make it to the carpark.
"I swung my legs out of the car and dropped to the ground, and then bub decided to arrive.
"He just came out super duper fast."
Ms Noordhuis said her contractions began at 3:00am, and at 5:00am, she and partner Ben Haywood were in the car, en route to the hospital from their home in Macgregor, in Canberra's north.
"We left later than we should have, probably by about 45 minutes at least," Mr Haywood said.
Fortunately, he rang ahead "from Hindmarsh Drive" and a midwife met them in the freezing air outside the hospital, armed with blankets.
"I was so focussed on the pain and it was making me so hot and sweaty that it was actually the perfect temperature for me to be out there," Ms Noordhuis said.
"Even though they were trying to get me in the doors for the poor baby, I was quite happy where we were.
"It was very surreal but I was just glad it was so fast and that it was over and done with in a flash."
"It was all over within a matter of 10 minutes, I reckon," added Mr Haywood.
Baby Brayden weighed a healthy 3.31 kilograms — but the happy story does not end there.
"A few hours after the birth, we were still in the hospital and hadn't been discharged yet, and my partner proposed to me," Ms Noordhuis said.
"It was the biggest shock of my life.
"He always told me it would happen when I least expected it, and it absolutely did."
As for Brayden, he is "doing excellent" at home with brothers Jackson, 4, and Liam, 2.
"He's feeding well and he's sleeping well," Ms Noordhuis said.
"He loves to sleep during the day so we're working on that at the moment.
"He's just beautiful."
