If a woman in fiction is established as near-term pregnant, and there comes an event that would be the worst possible time for her to go into labor, [[MurphysLaw the baby is going to pick that time to be born]].

Doesn't matter if it's drama or comedy, doesn't matter when the baby was actually expected to be due, doesn't matter if TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt is approaching - it's coming ''now'' and the cast is going to have to deal with it on top of whatever crisis plagues them. A DeliveryGuy will have to go into action quickly here.

The most common exception, oddly enough, is any episode where the mother is already expecting to go into labor any moment and the drama around the birth itself is the point of the episode.

SuperTrope of BornInAnElevator. Frequently involves InstantBirthJustAddWater and a ScreamingBirth.

[[{{Wikipedia}} The Other Wiki]] has an article on [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Preterm_birth some births that may occur during this trope]].
----
!!Examples:

[[foldercontrol]]

[[folder: Anime and Manga ]]

* In ''Manga/BarefootGen'', Kimie goes into labor the day the atomic bomb falls on Hiroshima, after watching her husband and two of her children burn to death.

[[/folder]]

[[folder: Fan Fic ]]

* {{Inverted}}: In Chapter 12 of the ''{{Superjail}}'' fanfic [[http://www.fanfiction.net/s/8803490/1/Extended-Stay Extended Stay]], the Warden and the Mistress get married while Mistress is 8 months pregnant. But just as they are about to kiss and wrap up the ceremony, her water breaks in front of everyone. [[spoiler: A chapter later, she gives birth to [[UntoUsASonandDaughterAreBorn mixed-gender twins]].]]
* ''Fanfic/KyonBigDamnHero'' example: Kyon was born during the [[VisualNovel/HigurashiWhenTheyCry Watanagashi festival ceremony]]. This was a heavy weight on his mother because, due to the birth's timing and the meaning of the festival, some of the Hinamizawa villagers believed Kyon was the representation of his mother's sin.

[[/folder]]

[[folder: Film ]]

* In ''Film/{{Apocalypto}}'', Jaguar Paw's wife Seven goes into labor while at the bottom of a pit that's filling with water from the heavy rain.
* In ''Film/FinalDestination 2'', the main characters believe they won't have to die if the pregnant woman gives birth, so the police picks her up and keeps her in a jail cell to make sure she is safe. Cue: her water breaking and the cop driving her to a hospital...
* In the ''Film/StarTrek'' reboot film, James T. Kirk's mother goes into labour during Nero's attack on his father's ship. His father gets the news of his son's birth just before he gets killed.
* ''Film/{{Taxi}} 2'' starts with [[DrivesLikeCrazy the protagonist]] driving a woman in labor and her husband to the hospital.

[[/folder]]

[[folder: Literature ]]

* In Creator/TerryPratchett's ''Discworld/NightWatch'', Lady Sybil goes into labour just as Sam Vimes returns from a trip to the past. But Sam returns naked. He has to run accross the city in the nude to be with her. He also has to choose to be with her over and above hunting the villain who was returned with him. Sam decides Carcer the villain can wait.
* Justified in ''Literature/TheBible'' - the stress of hearing that her husband died in battle and the Ark of the Covenant was lost is enough to not only kill Eli, but send his daughter-in-law into labor.

[[/folder]]

[[folder: Live Action TV ]]

* ''Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration'': Keiko, wife of Miles O'Brian, whom had been established as pregnant in prior episodes, goes into labor in the middle of a shipboard crisis resulting from a collision with a random NegativeSpaceWedgie, stranded in Ten Forward and with only Worf available to be the DeliveryGuy.
* ''Series/StarTrekVoyager'': B'Elanna, the ship's chief engineer, goes into labor as the series finale is starting.
* Thrice in ''Series/HowIMetYourMother'':
** Once on the most awesome moment of television ever (in-universe) on Robin's so-early-it's-still-late morning show.
** Once at Marshall and Lily's wedding (the harpist).
** Then Lily herself, when she's sent Marshall off for a relaxing night of drinking and gambling in Atlantic City to get him out of her hair.
* On ''Series/{{Bones}}'', Brennan went into labor while investigating a homicide inside a prison.
* In ''Series/{{Highlander}}'', Dr. Lindsey goes into labor after being caught in a tunnel collapse. Duncan ends up helping her deliver.
* Played straight and averted by ''Series/GoodLuckCharlie''. In season 1, the flashback to Charlie's birth has Amy fairly casually get up and get herself to the hospital. In season 3, for the 5th baby, Amy is a week late, and wants the baby out. She tries to induce pregnancy the day before Charlie's birthday, so the two youngest children didn't have to share a birthday. Naturally, she goes into labor the next day. Lampshaded at the beginning of the episdoe: "Wouldn't it be horrible if the baby came tomorrow?"
* ''Series/{{Eastenders}}'' has an episode where a woman goes into labor on a [[UsefulNotes/TheLondonUnderground tube train]] that's being held at a signal.
* ''Series/{{Farscape}}'' has Aeryn going into labor in the middle of a war zone. She doesn't stop shooting her enemies for it either.
* On ''Series/RookieBlue'' a pregnant cop goes into labor shortly after another female cop is kidnapped and the entire precinct is mobilized to look for her. The pregnant cop gets to the hospital without much hassle but the baby's father is in charge of the search so she forbids anyone to call him so he will not be distracted.
* Lampshaded by DangerouslyGenreSavvy John Sheppard in StargateAtlantis when the city goes into quarantine and he is trapped with a heavily pregnant Teyla.
-->'''Sheppard''': It's just that every time one of these things happens in the movies, the pregnant woman goes into labor.
-->'''Teyla''': I am still a long way from my due date.
-->'''Sheppard''': Yeah, it's the same thing in the movies and then, wham!
** It was ultimately subverted that time, but only because there was an EVEN WORSE situation later when she, predictably, went into labor.
* Happens during the GrandFinale of ''TheNewNormal'' with the surrogate mother Goldie going into labor with Bryan and David's son during their wedding.

[[/folder]]

[[folder: Western Animation ]]

* Pemma in ''WesternAnimation/TheLegendOfKorra'' is pregnant all through the first season with her and Tenzin's fourth child, and yet it waits to be born when the Equalists launch their full attack on the city and Air Temple Island.
* In an episode of ''FamilyGuy'', Peter gets into an altercation with a scruffy-looking individual, and punches that person in the face. Everyone is horrified and gives Peter a WhatTheHellHero for [[WouldHitAGirl hitting a woman]], although Peter doesn't believe them. It turns out that the person Peter punched really ''was'' a woman, and pregnant, because she went into labor right afterward.
* In ''WesternAnimation/HeyArnold'', Arnold finds in his father's diary that when his father and one friend were taking his mother to the village and suddenly get caught in a ''volcan eruption'', Stella went into labor. Luckly they found shelter in an ancient ruins.
----