Doorbell Camera Captures Woman Giving Birth While Standing in Parking Lot
Susan Anderson and her husband, Joseph, were expecting their second child and had planned to have her at Natural Birthworks in Margate, Florida, to experience a water birth.
Their baby had different ideas, however, and by the time the Andersons were parked at the birth center, she was already well on her way.
“During the car ride to the birth center, I turned to my husband, and I was like, ‘I need to push!'” Anderson told WPLG-TV. “I didn’t think I wouldn’t make it into the building.”
“By the time we got to the first step, the head was coming,” she added.
“That was my focus, just getting inside to the birthing tub, but she had other ideas.”
Thankfully, midwife Sandra Lovaina was ready and waiting. She met them in the parking lot, steps from the front door.
Lovaina kept her cool as the baby slipped out, fell through Susan’s shorts and landed in her hands.
“I asked her, ‘Are you OK to walk?’ and she said, ‘Yes,'” Lovaina told the Miami Herald. “The baby was already making its way and she was like, ‘Uh-oh,’ [but] she was in control of the entire situation.”
The whole video was caught on a Ring camera. With Susan’s permission, it was shared on Facebook on June 23 and soon went viral.
“Shared with permission!” the caption read. “This momma had a super fast labor. In Midwife terms, it was precipitous.”
“When dad called a few minutes before arrival and said she feels like pushing gloves were on and ready. Although I thought we’d have time to get inside, this little one had other plans.”
The video also shows two police officers standing nearby — but Lovaina had the situation handled and calmly let them know things were fine.
“The Police just so happened to be across the street & heard the commotion and walked over to see if help was needed,” the caption continued. “Multitasking by catching a baby and letting them know we were all good was quite the experience! One of the most exciting births of 2020 ? One we won’t forget! Mom & baby are doing amazing and we can all laugh at how awesome this birth was. Especially because the cops looked pretty shell shocked!”
The female officer especially showed her surprise, covering her mouth with her hands when the baby was born. She couldn’t stop smiling as the group waddled into the birth center.
To top off the scene, another midwife rushed into the building, a little too late.
“She had been our client before,” that second midwife, Gelena Hinkley, said. “We’ve done her other delivery, and round two was just a lot faster. No one was expecting it to be that fast.”
“It literally was insane,” Hinkley told WPEC-TV. “I think we knew it was going to go viral but not … I didn’t think it was going to go that viral.”
“It’s so crazy,” Lovaina said. “We never expected all this attention. It’s just mind-boggling. We are so happy that it brought smiles to people’s faces and it brought a little joy in the world during this craziness.”
While this kind of delivery is nothing new for the seasoned midwives, they’re happy that the video has been seen by so many people and brightened their days.
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