KEY POINTS:
The first baby born at Tauranga Hospital's new maternity ward arrived just 45 minutes after her mother was wheeled through the doors.
Taylor Bulloch was born at 7pm on Tuesday after a police escort cut a path through rush-hour traffic for her mother, Kelly, to make it to the hospital in time.
"There was no time for pain relief," Mrs Bulloch said.
Taylor's worried father, Hayden, had called police for help after he and his wife came to a standstill in a queue of cars.
At that stage, Mrs Bulloch's contractions coming less than a minute apart.
Fearing their daughter would be born on the side of the road, the Papamoa couple were met by a police car, which turned on its sirens and escorted them the rest of the way.
"They were there straight away," said Mr Bulloch, who is a truck driver.
"I was struggling to keep up with them."
Mrs Bulloch had gone into labour at 5pm.
But instead of her contractions coming 10 minutes apart as the first-time parents had been told to expect, they started coming two minutes apart and rapidly got quicker.
The 28-year-old needed a wheelchair to make it to the maternity ward.
Taylor weighed 2.75kg when born and received a special gift pack for being the first baby delivered at the new ward.
Her father said her entrance into the world was "a bit of history".
Both he and his wife wished to thank the staff of Tauranga Hospital and the two police officers who had helped them.
The new ward has 21 in-patient beds, seven birthing rooms, and 12 cots in a special-care baby unit.
It is part of an extensive refurbishment and rebuilding project at the hospital.
A new admission planning unit designed to reduce waiting times in the emergency department opened on May 20, and a new building housing specialist services for older people followed a week later.
An orthopaedic out-patients ward opened last Friday and construction of a new emergency department is under way.
A Tauranga Hospital spokeswoman said staff had had input into the design of all new and refurbished wards.
