A Montreal man said Wednesday he delivered his wife's baby at a city hospital last month because there was no medical staff on hand to help.

Mark Schouls told the Canadian Broadcasting Corp. he got his wife, Karine Lachapelle, to Royal Victoria Hospital in time the night of May 12 and was told it appeared the birth was hours away. But early on May 13 when their son wouldn't wait any longer to be born, and no doctor or nurse was there, he took matters into his own hands.

"(Karine) just kind of leaned back, and all of a sudden I see the baby starting to come out, he told the CBC. I just put my hand on his chest, and my fingers around his armpits, and my other hand kind of on his face ... and I just pulled him out."

Once their son started to breath and cry, Schouls scurried to find help.

"The nurses' station was vacant, so I continued down the hall," he said. "Once I got to the maternity area, then the doctors and the nurses came running."

Hospital spokesman Matt Kalina told the CBC "there was no safety issue involved," saying there were two nurses on duty nearby.

Mother and son Christophe are doing fine, Schouls said.