Parents Belinda and Cam McKay had the birth of their third child all planned out.

Like others they were booked into hospital, but baby Harriet had other ideas.

“It's always good to have a birth plan but yeah, you don't really go into it thinking that you're going to have your baby in a laundry,” Mrs McKay said.

She said she still can't believe how quickly the drama unfolded once she went into labour.

“I was just thinking ‘OK I've just got to really manage this pain because I've got to get to the hospital and I've got a few hours left’,” she said.

Camera Icon Little Harriet unaware of the fuss she caused. Credit: Today Tonight

Her husband dropped their other two daughters next door so they could pack their bags and make their way to hospital.

“When I came back, Belinda was going to the bathroom,” he said.

“She was like, ‘this baby's coming’. I went ‘what do you mean?’ And she was like ‘this baby's coming’.”

By the time Mr McKay had offloaded the kids, grabbed some towels and made it back to her, his wife was holding their newborn baby.

In just 45 minutes Harriet had arrived, born on the laundry floor.

“When I was recalling the story to my brother he was losing it,” Mr McKay said.

“He was like ‘oh, so are you going to call her Omo, are you going to call her cuddles?’ You know, all of these laundry jokes.”

Neighbour Nikki Cox described the situation as crazy.

“I just can't explain, it's just insane,” she said.

“It’s not something that you'd expect to walk into.”

Paramedics Cass and Mike arrived just after Harriet was born.

Mike recounted how “it was pretty crowded”, the pair wandering through the house where they found the happy couple, the children and the dog.

Blissfully unaware of the commotion she caused, little Harriet is an early Christmas gift the McKays wouldn't change for the world.

“Never in my wildest dreams did I think that I would have an experience like this or a birth like this and it's just been quite surreal,” Mrs McKay said.