With a population of just 648, the remote north-west Queensland town of Richmond doesn't offer maternity services so it was a shock for the on-call doctor when Jess Harvey arrived.
"The doctor checked my cervix and said I was 8 centimetres dilated and could feel the head," Ms Harvey said.
"After he checked my cervix, he passed out cold in the hallway of the hospital."
Reinforcements were called in from the Royal Flying Doctor Service after it was clear baby Darby wasn't waiting for anyone.
He became the first baby to be born in the town's hospital in 15 years.
Royal Flying Doctor Service emergency doctor Shima Ghedia said the hospital staff looked relieved when she arrived.
But she said it was also a new experience for the medical air service.
"I haven't delivered a baby in my role as an emergency specialist, ever," Dr Ghedia said.
"The last time I was in a delivery room was when my daughter was born.
"I was quite nervous about it, somehow the knowledge just came back to me."
Best laid plans
Ms Harvey was just days away from completing the 1,460km round trip to Townsville to spend the final month of her pregnancy near adequate health care.
That was until she started having contractions about 3:00am.
With her partner Sam Mcgrath hundreds of kilometres away at a mustering camp, Ms Harvey said she was initially in denial about what was happening.
"I just thought it was really bad cramping and I wasn't sure why," she said.
Ms Harvey ran across the compound and woke the station cook Danielle Riley.
"She immediately got up and jumped into action, helped me fuel up the ute, and drove me into town," Ms Harvey said.
They arrived in Richmond as the sun was rising.
Ms Harvey finally managed to get hold of her partner, Sam, on the phone to tell him the news.
He made it into town in record time and was there just in time for Darby's arrival, just before 11:30am on April 30.
The birth prompted a wave of excitement through the hospital, with staff working well beyond their shift time to see the first arrival in a decade-and-a-half.
Ms Harvey and baby Darby were then flown to Townsville's special care unit.
Darby made quite the entrance back home a week-and-a-half later after the area endured flooding rains.
"We got picked up at a flood crossing that we couldn't cross and we got a helicopter ride right back to the station," Ms Harvey said.
The tyranny of distance
Ms Harvey said being pregnant in a remote area had presented challenges.
Routine checks during the pregnancy became a major logistical exercise.
"I am two-and-a-half hours from one town and two hours from the other that have any medical services," Ms Harvey said.
She said she would travel two-and-a-half hours to Julia Creek to meet her midwife who had travelled 250km from Mt Isa.
