A Winnipeg family wasn't planning to have a home birth but they ended up not having much of a choice.

Amanda McDermid says she and her husband went to the hospital when her contractions got close together, however they were eventually sent home.

"They sent us home thinking 'you probably won't have the baby today, go home and get some rest.'"

Amanda went to her basement to rest but didn't get an opportunity to.

"Things just progressed," she says. "So I called out to my husband ‘call 9-1-1, this baby is coming.'"

Her husband Adam says the operator instructed him on supplies to get ready including towels, a shoelace, and a bobby pin. "I was asking when the paramedics were coming; I remember saying that," Adam says.

Amanda says that when the two paramedics, Stefane and Abby-Gail, arrived they set up quickly and got to work.

"When we got there we realized that birth was imminent," Abby-Gail says. "From there we just did all the steps we have to do to make sure that mom and baby are taken care of."

"It was pretty flawless," Stefan says. With no complications, Amanda ended up giving birth on the family's couch.

The family decided to name their daughter after Abby-Gail. "They were just amazing. The support, the service that we received from them, helped make such a traumatic day, such a traumatic experience a positive experience," Amanda says.

"Forever we'll be grateful of the service we received from everyone that was here."

It wasn't the first birth either paramedic was a part of. In 2018 the WFPS delivered 28 babies. The City of Winnipeg says the WFPS helps in about 24 births a year.