Mom gives birth while driving to hospital; Dad steered from passenger seat

[JBoy]

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/37315110/ns/health-womens_health/

BEMIDJI, Minn. - A Minnesota mother has given birth to a baby boy while driving herself to the hospital, with the newborn's father steering the car from the passenger's seat.

The Pioneer of Bemidji says 29-year-old Amanda McBride was rushing to the hospital Wednesday when suddenly her water broke and the baby "just slid out."

McBride says she was feeling labor pains at work, so she drove to pick up the baby's father and headed for the hospital. The father, 33-year-old Joseph Phillips, did not drive because he has a history of seizures.

Phillips told the newspaper that McBride yelled at him to take the wheel as she cradled the 8 pound baby boy, Joseph Dominick Phillips.

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Holy shit. Rambo mom.

[Name removed]

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[mikelgb]

2. The dad has a history of seizures... that's why he was not driving at first.

I was about to go off.

[Sabriel]

3. Now THAT'S sudden acceleration!

Nice job, Mom.

[guitar man]

4. what I want to know is

Was she also texting while giving birth and driving? :silly:

[aquart]

7. Is that an attempt to be funny?

Is childbirth that frightening a subject for you?

[Forkboy]

14. I woudn't quit your day job there, Dr. Phil.

[guitar man]

22. LOL

:rofl:

[Cirque du So-What]

26. +1

Well played.

[guitar man]

21. yes

and no :silly:

[rocktivity]

23. I'd like to know what SHE was attempting

driving herself and stopping to pick up her husband first, especially since HE couldn't help with the driving!

:crazy:
rocktivity

[mikelgb]

9. yes, and eating an egg mcmuffin.

[leftofcool]

5. Gets my vote for mom of the year!

[CTyankee]

8. Uh, how is that possible?

If she was seated and presumably at least one foot was on the accelerator, I can't understand how this could be anatomically feasible. And how do 8 lb. babies "slide" out...

I've given birth to three babies and it was more than a bit of work...and my babies were smaller than lots of babies now (we were put on stringent weight gain limits in those days).

[Still Blue in PDX]

16. That was my thought, too.

My second baby came extremely fast, but what kind of car is that roomy?

[Berry Cool]

31. I was more than 10 pounds, and I "just slid out" too, though my mom wasn't driving at the time.

She also said she was quite torn, but told the doctor there was no need to anesthetize her before the stitches, she couldn't feel anything at that point anyway.

It's like a riddle:

Q: When is a ten-plus-pound baby born?
A: Whenever it wants to be.

[CTyankee]

33. Sliding out when the mother's on the delivery room table is a TAD different

than when she is seated with one foot on the floorboard. It was the anatomical position of the woman that I was wondering about.

How can you "sit" in a seat (other than a birthing stool that has a hole in it) and give birth?

[LeftyMom]

36. It's actually a good bit harder on a delivery table.

The lithotomy position (one one's back, feet in stirrups) is pretty much the least anatomically appropriate position for giving birth shy of hanging upside down. Sitting up is a good bit better in terms of opening the pelvis and using gravity to assist, as well as reducing pressure on the perineum. If the baby is coming having one's legs in the way isn't going to matter at that point- the muscle contractions pushing the baby out are going to be pretty strong and once the baby's past the cervix there's nothing holding it in. It's not like crossing your legs to keep from peeing, the baby's going to come out.

[Berry Cool]

37. My mother found that lying on her side always did the trick. I imagine it varies by woman.

She was on the table, but wasn't in stirrups, when she had me. There was no time. The doctor was still scrubbing and gowning up. I was apparently in no mood to wait for him.

I describe my birth as "unintentionally natural."

[CTyankee]

40. I'm aware of that, however, that wasn't my point.

If a woman is sitting down, where does a baby emerging from the birth canal go? My best guess is that she adjusted the seat backwards and opened her legs enough to give that baby some space. Still difficult, tho, since one leg had to be down in order for her to accelerate and brake with her right foot...see what I mean?

[TorchTheWitch]

39. my sister's third and last kid practically FLEW out

Her first two were slow to decide to be born and both took a very long time, so she expected the same with the third. She got up out of bed to go pee and while sitting on the potty things started happening, and by the time she got back to the bedroom to wake up hubby baby was already crowning. Baby was already half way out before she could get her pajammie bottoms all the way off. It was nuts.

[LeftyMom]

35. It happens.

Even if birth is slow, once the biggest part of the head is past the cervix one totally involuntary contraction (esp. with the gravity assist from being upright) is more than enough to get a baby out. Mine came out that fast at the end (24 hours of labor before that, but once I finally dilated it went fast) and he was bigger than that lady's kid, by a fair amount.

[Kadie]

10. That is taking multi-tasking to a whole new level. n/t

[snooper2]

11. I bet she could control a "runaway" Toyota

:evilgrin:

[Bunny]

12. Pfffft! A REAL woman would have birthed that baby AND kept both

hands on the wheel. Amateur.

[Forkboy]

15. LOL

:)

[rurallib]

17. used to have the kids in the field while plowing the back 40.

and then milk the cows before cooking supper.

[JBoy]

18. And would have immediately swung into the 3+ HOV lane.

[n2doc]

13. Did she tweet during the birth? How soon was her Facebook page updated?

Come on, there are certain expectations to be met!

[Javaman]

19. Hope they shampoo that carpet. nt

[rocktivity]

20. Unnecessarily reckless

Why not drive straight to the hospital, get someone else to do the driving, or call an ambulance?

:crazy:
rocktivity

[davsand]

24. I might have needed to pull over.

Just sayin'...


________

All joking aside, there ARE women who deliver with relative ease. I can't say I think driving while in labor is usually a good plan, but what, EXACTLY was that woman supposed to do since her husband is not able to drive? I can hear some of you saying "She should have called an ambulance--duh" but I have to ask, do you HONESTLY think she planned to deliver that baby in the car? REALLY? DO YOU??

Have any of you ever known anybody that had a quick delivery? This stuff does happen, and it happens more than you might think. Frankly, I think the thing to do here is to be happy that nobody got hurt and they now have a new baby that came into this world with a really cool story to tell in later years.

YMMV.


Laura

[CTyankee]

25. I just don't know how that is possible. I'm glad everyone is OK.

Do you see what I mean?

[rocktivity]

28. Her driving in labor was a completely unnecessary plan

since she WASN'T in a car when her pains began. Why NOT call an ambulance, get someone else to drive, or at the very least drive directly to the hospital? Stopping to pick up someone who couldn't drive was just plain silly. One of those labor pains could have caused her to lose control of the car.

x(
rocktivity

[hlthe2b]

29. Do you know how much an ambulance ride costs?

While I agree with your point that her driving became reckless, the fact is that I can also understand why so many try to bypass an extremely costly ambulance ride.

[blueamy66]

30. Maybe she wanted

the father of the baby to be there when she delivered.

[rocktivity]

32. That could have been accomplished by she or a co-worker contacting her husband

while she was en route to the hospital.

:headbang:
rocktivity

[blueamy66]

34. Eh, split second decisions....

if I could go back and do things differently....hindsight is what?

[TorchTheWitch]

38. one shouldn't be driving once contractions start

That's a no-brainer. Just like not driving when one is too tired or too sick, too injured or has had too much to drink, etc. If she didn't want to take an ambulance ride she could have had someone at work drive her to the hospital. I'm amazed that her employer allowed her to drive herself to the hospital. She was even more stupid for going to pick up her husband first... he could have been driven to the hospital to meet her there. This was a dangerous and stupid thing to do.

[hlthe2b]

27. I feared reading the subline that they were pulled over/arrested

given the number of excessive (and thoughtless) police interventions documented in DU threads lately.... So, I'm glad it is not that.

You rock, Mom....