Record births after earthquake

File photo / Dean Purcell

The Christchurch quake led to a record number of baby births at Christchurch Hospital.

Twenty one babies were delivered, the most ever for a Saturday.

New Brighton woman Miriam Garcia was in labour when the earthquake struck at 4.36am on Saturday.

She told The Press that she just arranged to meet her midwife when the bedroom began shaking.

"I couldn't believe the timing. I had a lot of false labours in the weeks before and I was thinking, `now it's happening?"'

Ms Garcia's parents called emergency services for advice and an ambulance was sent.

"I'm really glad we did that in the end, because we didn't know what was going to happen next," Ms Garcia said.

The couple was also concerned an ambulance would not be available, but it arrived within minutes.

Ms Garcia said she was grateful to St John for the "special attention".

Baby Amelia was born about two hours later, with the midwife just making it on time.

- NZPA