Baby born in helicopter on the way to the hospital

"Mommy, tell me about the day I was born."

Oh, what a tale new mom Lisa Clinard will have for daughter Courtney Rose if she ever asks.

Clinard of Twentynine Palms, Calif., expected to go into labor sometime around Sept. 5 — but instead found herself push, push, pushing in a helicopter more than a mile up, according to Mydesert.com.

Little Courtney Rose's month-early arrival caught everyone by surprise on July 31.

Clinard, the wife of Marine Corps Staff Sgt. Josh Clinard, was experiencing some discomfort and headed to the naval hospital at the Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Center near her home for a checkup.

Then her water broke.

Realizing she was in premature labor, hospital staff bundled her onto a  Mercy Air 18 helicopter to get her to Loma Linda University Medical Center.

“At that point, they decided to bring in the helicopter, and I actually said 'OK, as long as I don't give birth in a helicopter' and they said that won't happen," Clinard told KMIR-TV Palm Springs. "We assumed we had plenty of time, and we did not.”

An eager Courtney Rose, weighing in at just over 5 pounds, was delivered by the onboard paramedic and flight nurse, reports Mydesert.com. The flight was rerouted to Desert Regional Medical Center in Palm Springs so Courtney Rose could go into intensive care.

Edgar Lampano, the flight nurse, told KMIR-TV that although he had been trained to deliver babies in helicopters during school, he never thought he would actually have to do it.

"It was a very exciting experience, and I'm just glad to hear that the mom and baby are doing great," said Lampano.

Proud papa Josh Clinard told "Fox and Friends" he missed the birth of his first child because he was on the way to Loma Linda while his wife was overhead in the copter.

The U.S. marine is not complaining, though.

"Most of my friends miss their births because they're deployed," he told the news show. "I can at least say my daughter was born 6,000 feet in the air."

Now the couple say the 2-week-old baby is healthy, but the nonhospital birth has meant a lot of red tape and paperwork.

And a great story.