For most of us moms, our labor memories are up there with the most interesting (and slightly traumatic) stories we can tell.
If you had a convenient labor and birth, believe me, you were blessed. For many moms, it’s almost as if our babies deliberately chose the most inconvenient times possible to decide they wanted to enter the world.
Most spontaneous births take place between 1 and 6:59am, disrupting sleep – a not-so-humorous sign of what’s yet to come.
While nearly 98% of births take place in hospitals, that’s not to say you won’t get caught out, either.
One woman learned the hard way that pregnancies don’t always go according to plan – when she gave birth on the side of a road.
Video footage in Altamonte Springs, Florida shows two troopers helping Kelly Smith Fleming to deliver her daughter in the early hours of the morning.
When a baby wants to come out, she wants to come out – and there’s not always time to get off the road!
According to the Florida Highway Patrol (FHP), it had just passed 2 a.m. on the last Tuesday in March when two troopers on patrol noticed an SUV going 83 mph in a 50 mph zone on S.R. 414 in Altamonte Springs.
Oftentimes, when people are caught speeding in the early hours of the morning, they’re simply taking advantage of the quiet roads and enjoying a thrill ride.
Occasionally, though, people may have a reason for driving so fast, as was the case in this story.
When the troopers initiated a traffic stop, they immediately realized that this wasn’t their usual pull-over.
The male driver – Kelly’s husband, Jarrod – was frantically waving his arms out of his window, and it was clear to the officers that he needed help, fast.
On approaching the car, they found that Kelly, sitting in the front passenger seat, was in active labor.
With Kelly’s labor progressing rapidly, the troopers quickly determined that she wouldn’t make it to the nearest hospital in time.
The troopers and Jarrod made the joint decision that Kelly would have to make the best of what she had – which, in this case, meant giving birth outside!
Within minutes of laying down on a blanket on the ground, Kelly had given birth to a healthy baby girl.
Jarrod caught the baby and passed her over to one of the troopers. Once the baby’s airways were cleared, she started to cry. It’s a sign we all hope for in any childbirth scenario, but it was likely especially welcomed in this situation.
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An ambulance had already been called, and it arrived on the scene to take Kelly and her baby girl to the hospital, while Jarrod and the baby girl’s big sister followed behind in their car.
It’s hard to imagine how many emotions Jarrod and Kelly felt within a single night.
Having to give birth on the side of the road must have been incredibly scary for Kelly, at her most vulnerable and with no doctors or nurses by her side.
In the video footage, Kelly can be heard saying: “Oh, my God, I’m freaking out right now”, while the troopers repeatedly reassure her that both she and the baby are okay.
Kudos to the troopers for stepping so professionally into a role they never could have prepared for on a Tuesday morning!
You can watch the heartwarming video just below.
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