A Tayside woman gave birth to her daughter in the front seat of her car — while her husband drove them to hospital.
Jo Smith and husband Jonny were heading to Ninewells in Dundee when daughter Lara made an early appearance inside their Vauxhall Antara.
Joe, 25, was forced to deliver the youngster on her own as they travelled along the A92 between Arbroath and Dundee — while Jonny tried to get them to medical help as soon as he could.
Jo told the Tele: “It was our anniversary and we had planned to go away to Woodlands Hotel for a meal, so it ruined our anniversary plans, but in the best way possible.
“We were getting ready but that was when I really realised we needed to go to the hospital.
“We were coming past Carnoustie and the contractions were getting really, really heavy.
“I said to Jonny, ‘the baby’s coming, you’ll need to pull over’.
“He told me he wasn’t going to pull over and he said, ‘hold on, don’t push’, but she was out within seconds.
“Despite the circumstances it was a really easy labour — a lot quicker than her brother Jay.”
The couple, who live in Arbroath, carried on to Ninewells. But when they arrived they struggled to find their way into the maternity unit.
Jo continued: “We got to the entrance and Jonny jumped out of the car and said: ‘help, my wife’s had a baby in the car’.
“I was absolutely fine but I can’t say the same for him. He was traumatised — and he’d just had the car valeted, which didn’t help!
“But it was a really great, unexpected surprise.
“When we got inside I saw the midwives and I asked how they were, and they said: ‘never mind us, how are you?’
“I was absolutely fine, though, and so was Lara.”
Jonny, 28, a self-employed fisherman, admitted he was still in shock over the unusual circumstances of his daughter’s birth earlier this month.
He said: “It was strange and all a bit of a blur to be honest. It’s hard to explain what it was like at the time — we were driving along one minute, the next she was born.”
Jay, four, and the rest of the family came to visit that evening, and the family were allowed home the next day. The couple settled on the name Lara Kay Smith, taking her middle name from Jo’s mum Kay.
They decided against a name connected to the unusual birth. Jo said: “My dad, Robert, had told a few friends and family for a joke that she was named Mercedes.
“My gran took him seriously and said she didn’t like the name. In the end she was happy with Lara.”