Some women make giving birth look so easy. Like the mama who delivered her baby in 10 minutes while on board a ferry. Labor? Yeah, no big thing for her. We humans actually have it a lot easier than most animals -- the octopus dies after birth and the sloth not only births upside down, but then is still physically attached for the next six weeks to baby who never lets go.
Crazy. Lucky, perhaps. Our ability to birth is amazing. We just have to trust that ability ... or you know, get stuck somewhere far from the hospital when it's go-time so we have no choice. This mom proves that it's totally okay if you have your baby somewhere unplanned ... like right there in your car. Because she did it in the front seat while her husband sped through town.
I can see paradise by the dashboard light .... I can't help but reference that Meatloaf tune. And yeah, that song is more about what you do to make a baby rather than have the baby, but paradise it was for the swift delivery of Christy Henry's baby boy at 2:03 a.m. in the front seat of the family's Toyota RAV4 while husband Matt was speeding up Interstate 5 in San Diego to get to the hospital. "I just had the baby" was what she said as baby Liam was born.
Despite the high speed race to the hospital, I can't help but sense a calmness between these two. Well three if you count baby.
“My wife is such a rock star, to deliver her baby into her own hands,” Matt told UT San Diego.
Rock star indeed. But the front seat delivery isn't the only thing to give this couple rock star status. Christy was four days past her due date, yet clearly wasn't panicking until that night around midnight when she knew it was time. Christy stayed at home while Matt took their 22-month-old son Ryder to a friend's place before they went to the hospital. And you know what this family calls home? A 41-foot boat.
They live on a boat! They have a baby in a car! They did save the umbilical cord cutting until they arrived at Kaiser Permanente hospital. Liam was 6.17 pounds and 19.5 inches.
So if she had the baby at home on their boat, would it be considered a water birth? I kid. I do wonder if the rocking boat helps baby sleep, though.
Fascinating folks, these Henrys!
“It’s obviously not the way we planned it, but the Lord had us in mind. We didn’t panic. He had a great plan, and we have a great story,” Matt said.
Matt is a pastor at EastLake Church in Imperial Beach where Christy runs the children's ministry. The family will introduce little Liam "speedracer" to their congregation on Easter Sunday.
Giving birth in the car on the way to the hospital may be one of the biggest fears pregnant mamas have. What do you think of this story? Does it make you no longer fear where you give birth?
Image via Ana Patricia Almeida/Flickr