Little Ivy Ludwig arrived in the world in a very country Australia kind of way - beneath the goalposts of the Murrumbateman oval after which she was wrapped in a flannie to keep her warm.
Dad Aaron delivered Ivy as mum Lauren went into labour en-route from their home on a property in Binalong to the North Canberra Hospital.
"It was just the most beautiful thing you can do and I can understand what all the fuss is about with midwives wanting to choose that profession. Having to do that all the time - it's amazing," Mr Ludwig said.
Mrs Ludwig, 28, was on her way to the hospital in Canberra to be induced - precisely because of concerns the birth of her third child would be quick and because she had had been experiencing spurious labour pains.
But a number of emergency cases meant her induction was put off for a day and little Ivy couldn't wait any longer - born at 11.26am last Thursday, September 21 in the back seat of the family car on the Murrumbateman oval.
Yass Valley Deputy Mayor Jasmin Jones said Mrs Ludwig joined a growing number of women from the region who have given birth on the side of the Barton Highway or "in boots or the back seats of cars or by the light or a mobile phone" because there was a lack of local maternity services and they had to travel to Canberra to give birth, but often got caught out on the way.
Mrs Jones' third baby had been born just over the ACT border enroute to hospital in 2011. She is one of a group of local mums calling for not only the restoration of maternity services to the Yass District Hospital but for a new and expanded hospital for the growing population.
The NSW Government in its most recent budget allocated $250,000 for a feasibility study for the Yass hospital.
Mrs Jones said maternity services were stripped from the hospital in 2006 but the surrounding population had increased considerably since then.
"If you're having a heart attack or a baby, you need the services on the ground," she said.
For the Ludwig family, back home on Thursday on their picturesque property about 100km north-west of Canberra, there was a mixture of relief and elation that everything turned out okay.
Mrs Ludwig said they left their home last Thursday morning not thinking that Ivy's arrival was imminent.
"We thought we were being paranoid but things were moving along, so we decided to go into Canberra earlier than planned. We had an appointment to be induced in the afternoon but I think around 10.30 in the morning, we decided we'd leave early just to be safe," she said.
"And probably around the time of Yass I was starting to get nervous that things were progressing a little more. About five minutes out of Murrumbateman, we called the ambulance and about 10 minutes later the baby was born in the back of the car."
Mr Ludwig, 31, said when he reached Murrumbateman and with his wife in "immense pain", he just "took the first left".
"Straight into the Murrumbateman footy oval and parked under, just behind, the goals, and within five minutes, I was holding a baby," he said.
"It was wild but she came out screaming and she was healthy, so it was all good."
Mr Ludwig was on the phone to an ambulance officer who was giving instructions for how to deliver the baby.
The young dad was so stressed he couldn't follow any of the instructions and was just acting in the moment until he had his daughter safely in his arms.
"It was one of the most beautiful moments of my life, easily, and I think it even changed me, probably," he said.
"Catching physically the baby, at speed, she came out quick and holding the baby and seeing her cry for the first time, was like touching in a way you can't describe."
The baby was wrapped in a flannie to keep her warm until an ambulance arrived soon after.
The Ludwigs, who met when they were both studying at the University of Canberra, have two other children, Scarlett, six, and Remy, three. They ran Pepper's Cafe in nearby Boorowa for two years but Mr Ludwig has recently shifted into earthmoving. Although he did, for a moment, consider midwifery in the afterglow of Ivy's birth.
Mrs Ludwig had total trust in her husband helping to deliver Ivy.
"I've already had it proven twice that he's the best support during labour and probably the only thing I hoped for was that he would be there and then for him to be able to deliver the baby as well was amazing," she said.
Mr Ludwig said as much as he treasured the moment of Ivy's unique birth, the family was well aware "we just got lucky" that there were no complications and that their car was packed for hospital and their other children were with their grandparents.
"As beautiful as it was, not everyone is going to have a delivery that is going to go that well, when there's people like myself delivering a baby who've got no idea," he said.
"And the amount of people who are having babies on the Barton Highway because there's no facility for that whole region is pretty worrying."
Ivy did contract an infection and she and Mrs Ludwig were in the North Canberra Hospital for almost a week before getting the all-clear to come home to Binalong on Wednesday.
Mr Ludwig said the Murrumbateman oval would now be a hallowed ground for him in more ways than one and he planned to perhaps plant a tree there.
"I've already been back there to have a look at it in the aftermath of it and it's pretty special," he said.
