Amelia Reid-Meredith's delivery room drama

Shortland Street star Amelia Reid-Meredith. Photo / Michael Craig

After keeping her waiting for nearly five days, Amelia Reid-Meredith's baby boy surprised her with a quick - but not necessarily easy - delivery.

The Shortland Street star tells this week's edition of New Idea about her delivery room drama during the birth of her first child - a boy called Arlo.

Reid-Meredith, who plays Bella Cooper on the local soap, says she was four days past her due date when she began to feel the first twinges of labour.

By 8am the next day, Reid-Meredith had begun regular contractions and it was then she and husband Shadon Meredith were told the baby had turned posterior - with his head down and his spine against her back.

"That's when we knew it was going to be a long road," she said.

Reid-Meredith and her husband headed to Waitakere Hospital and after arriving they believed they were in for a long wait.

"Mum had only just started her knitting and we were settling in for a long night," she said.

But as she lay in the birthing pool the actress said she felt the need to push.

"My midwife checked again and said, 'Okay we are going to have this baby right now - in the pool'."

Her baby's heart rate started to show signs of distress and the couple became nervous, quickly moving Reid-Meredith from the pool to the bed, New Idea reports.

"It was surreal," said Meredith. "As the man you are holding back tears, but then you see your wife going hard and you have to stop yourself from crying and focus on what the job is - supporting her and helping him get here safely."

Soon after, Arlo David Meredith was born.

"We were all a little bit in shock because it had happened so quickly, but he came out and his eyes were wide open and he was fully present," said Reid-Meredith.

The soap star said she loves being a mum and has already taken her baby boy to the Shortland Street set a few times - a necessity after returning to work four weeks after the birth.

* Read more in the latest issue of New Idea.

- nzherald.co.nz