But for Rachuel Dick and Josh Crase, giving birth on the lounge room floor, six weeks before the due date and within 17 minutes of putting in a triple zero call was not what they had planned.

Last Sunday the northern Tasmanian couple were celebrating the impending arrival of their first child with family and friends at a baby shower at Railton on the north west coast of Tasmania.

Baby Charlotte was due March 3 - with plenty of work ahead for the parents based at Trevallyn, in Launceston, ahead of their new arrival.

Packing their car to head back home, their evening had been normal as the pair headed to bed.

But in the early hours of Monday morning, Rachuel woke up with some "mild pelvic pain".

"I woke up thinking I was having general pelvic pain or Braxton Hicks, so I just sat on the couch hoping it would pass," she said.

"I thought I might have wet myself or something so I wasn't quite sure, but the pain started coming quicker."

Then Josh woke up about 7am, finding Rachuel on the lounge room floor.

"That's when she told me she thought she was going into labour," Josh said.

"I asked if she was having contractions and she said that she was having pains about five minutes apart, so I looked it up on Google, and everything I read said you're meant to be in hospital already when they're that close together.

"I started to time one myself to make sure - that came back as two and a half minutes and that's when I started to panic."

The couple tried to contact their midwives to no luck - so Josh called his mother.

"Even though she hadn't had a kid for 40 years, mum knew what to do and told us to go to hospital immediately - Rachuel didn't think she could make it into the car so we called an ambulance," he said.

At approximately 8.20am, Josh called triple zero and spoke to an operator, who called an ambulance to their address.

"He took our details, and as soon as he asked how far the contractions were apart, his next sentence was to tell me to go get dry towels and get Rachuel to lie down," Josh said.

"I was stressed - he kept asking about whether I could see the head, but I thought it couldn't possibly be coming, there was absolutely no way."

With COVID-19 restrictions meaning the couple were unable to attend traditional birthing glasses, and no mother's group for Rachuel, she said she was "unaware" that she was in labour until quite late.

"I had some pain, but I didn't know how intense it would have been or what would expect - it just seemed like really bad period pain for a few hours," she said.

"I thought it'd pass and it didn't, and then I had the urge to push and I knew that probably wasn't a good sign.

"The triple zero operator told me to lie down, I was frozen in position over the couch with the contraction so it was a little while before I could lie down - and as soon as I did the baby came out."

Within 17 minutes of the call being placed, the paramedics arrived, but Josh and Rachuel had delivered, aided by the operator on the other end of the phone.

"The beautiful thing for us is that we liked the idea of having a birth as natural as possible, but this was nowhere near what we had planned," Josh said.

"The three of us were together before anyone else saw us - we were the first people our baby saw, that's probably why she cried so much to begin with.

"We were both on the ground in massive shock when the paramedics walked in."

Born early, baby Charlotte is currently in the Launceston General Hospital NICU being cared for by a team of staff.

"She was born at 4.4 pounds, and she'll be in hospital for a while," Rachuel said.

"Health wise she's pretty good, they found no reason for why she came early, no infections or breathing problems - she's just very small and very early and needs time to grow."

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Now home, Rachuel and Josh are getting ready for Charlotte to join them when released.

"We had everything, but nothing set up," Josh said.

"We need to do all of that, install the car seat - do everything we thought we'd have weeks to do.

"We didn't even have the hospital bag properly packed yet - the paramedics told me to grab it so I panic threw things in, I had no idea what to put in and I don't think anything was right."

Rachuel and Josh said the support they received was invaluable, and kept them calm during the birth.

"Those guys are the real heroes," Josh said.

"All I did was follow his instructions, and he copped it whenever I got stressed but he was so reassuring."

"We just want to thank him so much," Rachuel added.

"It was a strange feeling when it was over, the paramedics were there and then suddenly he was gone."

The triple zero operator was Sean Perry - only a few months into working with Ambulance Tasmania, and only fresh to the emergency medical dispatch support officer role.

Sean said he was delighted to receive the feedback.

"They were great, honestly. Josh was cool, calm and collected the whole way through - I think it was only when the baby was born the reality of what just happened sort of set in," Sean said.

"It's pretty cool. I've only been here a short time, and to be able to help in that sort of situation is something I don't think I'll ever forget.

"Personally, it was really rewarding, and I'm really pleased for them - they were great."

Sean's father Grant also works for Ambulance Tasmania in their communications centre, and was there when he took the call.

He said that he was incredibly proud of Sean, and that aiding with births over the phone wasn't common.

"I reckon I've only had to do one, maybe two, births over the phone in 20 years, to have to do one in your first six months is pretty unusual," Grant said.

"Our protocols for these things are exceptionally good - but all three of them did a really good job. It was a great result."

When told, Josh said he had no idea that it was the first birth Sean had assisted with.

"He never sounded nervous, he never let on that it was his first and he was just so calm," Josh said.

"It shows their training is so good - he was prepared for any question I ask and anything I shouted at him during the process, we couldn't be more grateful for his help."

Baby Charlotte is set to join Rachuel and Josh at home in coming weeks.