New Zealand politician Julie Anne Genter cycles to hospital to give birth

A New Zealand MP cycled to hospital while in labour on Sunday only to give birth barely an hour later.

"I genuinely wasn't planning to cycle in labour, but it did end up happening," Julie Anne Genter said on Facebook afterwards.

The Green party's spokesperson for transport was not doing this for the first time - she was a minister three years ago when she took a similar trip.

Ms Genter, 41, is a well-known and outspoken cycling advocate.

The US-born politician said her contractions "weren't that bad" when she and her husband decided to cycle.

She posted a picture of the couple in the hospital car park.

The first New Zealand member of parliament to give birth was in 1970, with another politician breastfeeding at work in 1983.

In June 2018, PM Jacinda Ardern became the second world leader to give birth in office.

Since then, there have been several cases of politicians taking their babies with them to work - some breastfeeding them there.

But in the UK, opposition Labour MP Stella Creasy took her three-month-old son into the House of Commons last Tuesday, but was later told no babies were allowed in the chamber.

A committee is reviewing the ban.