For some moms, where they deliver turns out to be a huge surprise. Read stories of real moms who delivered on a plane, in the post office, perched in a tree, and more!
By Tricia O'Brien
On the kitchen floor
Dorothy Price
Charlotte, North Carolina
Price's ob-gyn sent her home from the hospital twice and told her to return when she was "keeled over and unable to talk." So she sucked up the pain and kept busy, running errands with her sister. Upon returning home, and even though her contractions weren't five minutes apart, she called the doc at 3:30 p.m. and managed to say, "In labor. Baby coming now!" The nurse instructed Price to dial 911. "I walked into the kitchen and held onto the counter to brace myself," Price says. Just as the baby was crowning, the fire department and paramedics arrived. After two pushes, Kaden Amir was born on the floor.
Out on a limb
Sofia Pedro
Mozambique, Africa
In 2000, Sofia Pedro climbed a tree to escape surging floodwaters in Mozambique. After three exhausting days spent high up in the branches, a South African helicopter rescue crew found her, and two minutes later she delivered her daughter Rositha -- while clinging tightly to the tree. Soon thereafter, the crew returned with a medic, who cut the baby's umbilical cord and airlifted the two to safety.
Hello, McBaby!
Danielle Miller
Vancouver, Washington
McDonald's employee Danielle Miller wasn't feeling great, so she ran to the restroom while on her night shift at the fast-food restaurant. There, the teen gave birth to 6-pound son Austin Laddussaw on December 21, 2007. Craziest part: Miller didn't even know she was pregnant!
In front of the firehouse
Alicia Weintraub
Calabasas, California
Cedars-Sinai Medical Center was a mere five miles from the Weintraub's home outside of Los Angeles, but still the couple didn't have enough time to get there. In a matter of minutes, Alicia's contractions went from six minutes apart to three minutes, so her husband Adam pulled off into the parking lot of Station 99, where paramedics rushed out with a stretcher. There was no time to get inside, so Baby Lauren was born on the stretcher in the firehouse driveway. Four weeks premature and weighing just 4 pounds, 14 ounces, she was released from the hospital in five days.
At the post office
Sonia Maria Nascimento
Cambridgeshire, England
In May 2009, Sonia Maria Nascimento, of Portugal, was at the post office in Cambridgeshire, England, when she went into labor and delivered her baby, Dulce. The postmaster propped the newborn girl on the scale, which tipped at 5 pounds, 15 ounces. How's that for a special delivery?
On the subway platform
Francine Alfontent
New York City
Call it a public spectacle on the subway. Francine Alfontent gave birth on the platform at the East Broadway stop of the F train. She and her husband, Max, were headed to the hospital but got off the train when her contractions became overpowering. As she lay down on the ground, with a bystander grasping her hand and offering encouragement, other strangers slipped items of clothing underneath her and a briefcase beneath her head. Francine and Max welcomed Soleil, who was born at 6 pounds, 7 ounces, with a host of New York City commuters looking on and cheering.
On the freeway
Shannon Haddaway
Fort Worth, Texas
At 2:45 a.m. on Memorial Day 2010, Haddaway woke her husband James to tell him her contractions were five minutes apart. James called Shannon's mom to come watch their two kids, and the couple sped out of the driveway as she drove up. Shannon's water had broken, and as James was helping her into the car, the baby's head was already crowning. James called 911 but decided there was no time to wait for an ambulance. With a nurse from the hospital on speakerphone as James sped along the interstate, Shannon delivered daughter Adeline. The newborn wasn't crying or breathing, so the nurse said to turn her on her tummy and pat her back. Minutes later, James screeched into the hospital parking lot, where a team of doctors awaited them. They rushed Adeline inside and she was stabilized. "We all experienced a true miracle that day," James says.
In a tunnel
Maya Polton
Brooklyn, New York
First-time mom Maya Polton, of Brooklyn, tried to labor at home as long as possible. She'd been told by many a mom that you're sent home if you show up at the hospital too early. But at 7:30 a.m., seven hours after her contractions had started, her water broke and the doctor instructed Maya and her husband, Eric, to hightail it to the hospital, in Manhattan. At 8:30, from a taxi in the Brooklyn Battery Tunnel, Eric phoned the labor and delivery ward for ideas on how to slow down labor. But they lost cell service -- and baby Jacob couldn't wait any longer. The couple isn't sure if Jacob was born in Manhattan or in Brooklyn, so the birth certificate reads "Brooklyn Battery Tunnel."
In the door to a shop
Sarah Plews
Bristol, England
On December 4, 2011, Sarah Plews of Bristol, England, went to the hospital when her contractions were strong and close together. The midwives told the mom of one to grab some lunch. At a caf? with her husband, Dave, Plews suddenly knew birth was imminent. The couple tried to make it back to the hospital, but en route, Ivy, 6 pounds, 13 ounces, was born in the doorway to a shop, when her mom determined she could go no further. Mom and Baby were taken via wheelchair to the hospital, just minutes away, and were sent home later that day.
On the front lawn
Jennifer Coffman
Ann Arbor, Michigan
Jennifer Coffman had a home birth -- not that she planned it that way. As the Ann Arbor, Michigan, mom tried to get into the car on a hot July night, she knew the baby was coming that moment. So she switched to Plan B. Coffman got on her hands and knees on the grass, and with help from her husband, Steve, and her doula, Beth Barbeau, delivered her second daughter, Maeve, five pushes later at 11:04 p.m., guided by flashlight. Healthy Maeve weighed 8 pounds, 9 ounces. Barbeau took a snapshot of the family after the birth and told Mlive.com, "It looks like a camping trip!"
At the library
Dominique Trevino
Denver, Colorado
Sariah Trevino is bound to be a bookworm. She was born inside the front entrance of the Denver Central Library, when her mom, Dominique, got off a bus there. She had been en route to the hospital. Inside the library, Trevino lay down, and two pushes later, Sariah arrived. Paramedics arrived just in time for the birth; they wrapped the 5 pound, 12 ounce, baby in a blanket, and took her and mom to the hospital. Days later at a news conference, Sariah and mom were feted by library staffers with a tote bag, baby books, and library cards.
In an art gallery
Marni Kotak
Brooklyn, New York
On October 11, 2011, performance artist Marni Kotak had her baby boy Ajax inside the Microscope Gallery in Brooklyn while about 20 people looked on. The performance was called "The Birth of Baby X," and she had transformed the space into a home-birthing center, decorated with blue walls and pillows and equipped with a birthing pool. Before Kotak had her son, she told The Huffington Post that she and her husband will someday tell Ajax he was born in an art gallery "because, as artists, that is our sacred space, and in doing this we are telling the world and our child that his or her life is a precious work of art."
Up in the air
Aida Alamillo
Between Manila and San Francisco
You might say Kevin Raymar Francis Domingo was heaven sent. On September 28, 2011, the boy was born at 30,000 feet on Philippine Airlines Flight 104 from Manila to San Francisco ("Francis" was chosen a result of his surprise birth en route to that destination). This was the fourth child for mom Aida Alamillo, of the Philippines, who went into labor at 35 weeks, and was flying late in her pregnancy to visit her ailing father in the U.S.
Behind the wheel
Amanda McBride
Bagley, Minnesota
Amanda McBride was driving to the hospital (her husband, Joseph Phillips, who suffers seizures, was in the passenger seat) when her water broke. She yelled for Joseph to steer the vehicle, then she pulled down her pants and her 8-pound baby boy, also named Joseph, slid out. Joseph is the couple's third child.
On the Internet
Nancy Salgueiro
Ottawa, Canada
While she gave birth in her living room, Nancy Salgueiro, of Ottawa, Canada, streamed a live account of the experience online. Son Oziah was born at 3:18 a.m. with more than 2,000 people watching. How's that for an original movie?
In a hospital elevator
Katie Thacker
Tacoma, Washington
On January 18, 2012, Katie Thacker gave birth to a baby boy at St. Joseph Medical Center in Tacoma, Washington -- nothing unconventional about that, right? But Thacker never made it to the delivery room. She, along with her midwife and nurses, got stuck in a hospital elevator. With her husband waiting on the 14th floor, Thacker gave birth somewhere between the 12th and 14th floors. Mom and newborn would end up being in the elevator for almost two hours, but new dad Luke Thacker couldn't wait to see his family. Luke crawled down into the elevator so he could meet his son and cut his umbilical cord. The couple named their son Blake Michael, but he already has a nickname: "Otis," after the famous Otis Elevator company.
At a military base in AfghanistanMother's name not releasedHelmand Province, Afghanistan
In September 2012, a soldier gave birth to a boy while serving at Camp Bastion, a British base in southern Afghanistan. The young mother was a gunner with the Royal Artillery and arrived to Afghanistan in March, after the baby was conceived. She told authorities she was not aware of her pregnancy until she complained of stomach pain and went into labor at the field hospital. The boy is the first child ever born to a member of Britain's armed forces in combat.
Copyright © 2012 Meredith Corporation.
