Baby

Amazing Stories of Incredible Births

When you’re expecting a baby, you do what you can to take control of the experience. You go to your ob-gyn appointments and childbirth classes, take prenatal vitamins, and try to eat a healthy diet. Still, there’s always that feeling that Mother Nature’s really the one in charge and you’re just along for the wild ride. Ever wonder what you’d do if your pregnancy or labor suddenly took a surprising turn? That’s what happened to the five women we profile here, who were forced to call upon reservoirs of strength and resourcefulness they never knew they had to bring their babies into the world.

Don’t Try This at Home

Even though Krista Johnson, a 34-year-old scientist at a pharmaceutical company, had been having minor contractions for several hours one September day, she didn’t think her baby was going to born any time soon. “I had similar contractions with my first child--well-spaced and not too dramatic,” Krista says. With the birth of her firstborn, Alexander, Krista had delivered after a full day at the lab. Nevertheless, this time, she says, “I had a head cold, so I decided to stay home from work.”

And that’s a good thing. By noon, Krista’s contractions timed at about ten minutes apart, but she still wasn’t nervous; four hours later, however, when her water broke and it was a darkish color, she and her husband, Bill Barnes, decided to head for the hospital. “Just then, as I was in the bathroom, something fell out of me,” Krista says. Thinking it was the umbilical cord, she quickly got down on the floor. Meanwhile, Bill ever practiced after many years in the navy, grabbed a telephone with a headset and dialed 911. “Within seconds, I heard him say to the 911 guy, ‘No, no. You don’t understand. I see a leg!’” Krista says.

“I was extremely nervous,” Bill says. “But the person at the other end of the phone knew exactly what to do.” Because the baby was holding one leg to his chest, “I had to ease him back in a tiny bit and give a tug,” Bill says. By the time the paramedics arrived minutes later, Bill had delivered their nine-pound son—with 18-month-old Alexander, terrified, clinging to his leg the whole time. Mother and baby were soon whisked off to the hospital.

An unexpected home birth is dramatic enough, but Joseph Johnson Barnes chose to enter this world feet-first, medically known as a footling breech. (A typical breech baby comes out bottom-first, with his legs tucked up to his chest.) As a rule, these ultra-high-risk babies are delivered by cesarean section. Ironically, when Krista had visited her obstetrician several days before, there was no indication of anything out of the ordinary. After the birth, “my obstetrician said, ‘In 30 years, I’ve never heard of this happening,’” Krista says.

Medical Miracle

Juanita Legere, 25, went to the hospital because she was having contractions. Six months pregnant with her third child, Juanita also felt under the weather. “I thought I’d get some antibiotics and I’d be fine,” she says. But Juanita was diagnosed with a rare form of hepatitis that causes fatal liver failure. “I was shocked,” she says. “They told me it was very serious, that I might only have two weeks to live.” To save her life, Juanita needed a liver transplant. Her doctor also recommended that she terminate her pregnancy, but she refused. “My husband, David, and I already felt the baby move,” she says. “We decided we were going to do anything we could to have it.” Juanita’s second doctor agreed to try to work around her pregnancy and placed her at the top of the national liver donor waiting list.
Meanwhile, in and out of a semicoma, Juanita began to fade.

Within a few days, she went into labor. Little Kelly Nicole was born weighing just 2 and one-half pounds. Her liver, which was thought to have been doing double duty for her and her mom, was enlarged, but otherwise she was fairly healthy. Juanita, however, soon went into a coma.

Remarkably, a matching donor liver became available—and not a moment too soon. “The doctors told me I would have died within 24 hours if I hadn’t gotten the transplant,” Juanita says. Several weeks later, Juanita went home. Kelly was released from the hospital two and a half weeks after that and is now a robust toddler. After battling several postsurgery complications, Juanita is also healthy. “The doctor said I was a miracle patient—and I think Kelly is my miracle baby,” she says.

A Scary Stroke

During a fitness class for expectant moms at a local YMCA, Karen Christensen, a 44-year-old teacher and actor who was nine months pregnant, suddenly stopped exercising. The instructor noticed that Karen looked dazed; when she asked her, “What’s your name?” Karen was unable to talk. Realizing that Karen was having a stroke, the instructor called 911. By the time the ambulance arrived, Karen had lost the ability to speak, couldn’t see out of her right eye, and was paralyzed on the entire right side of her body.

The closest emergency room was a major medical center, which by coincidence had one of the few stroke-recovery units in the region. The YMCA staff had managed to contact Karen’s husband, Kenny, who met Karen at the hospital. Doctors administered a clot-busting drug as soon as she arrived. But because the drug failed to dissolve the clot fast enough, medical center surgeons performed emergency brain surgery on Karen to unblock the artery. Throughout the dramatic and dangerous operation, an ob-gyn team waited in the wings in case Karen went into labor.

“Thankfully, despite a few contractions, the baby didn’t budge,” Kenny says. Karen had ten days to recover before she went into labor. Surgery is dangerous for a stroke victim because it can cause blood clots, so a C-section wasn’t an option. With the help of forceps, Karen delivered a healthy baby girl, Scouten Elaine Christensen. Although the blood clot still hasn’t completely dissolved, Karen now has regained her vision, some of her speech, and all of the movement on her right side.

Born in a Car Dealership

Susan Chae, a 36-year-old mother of two, knew from previous experience that the final stage of her labor would go fast. She had barely made it to the hospital birthing center for the birth of her second child. This time, however, she was prepared. For the arrival of baby number three, “I had made up my mind that I was going to the birthing center as soon as I felt regular contractions,” Susan says. And that’s what she did– only to be sent home after three hours because her labor wasn’t progressing.

“When I got home, my contractions were still pretty light,” she says. Butafter an hour or so, things started picking up speed. As Susan’s contractions grew stronger, her husband, Won, a radiologist, gave her an internal check. “I was still dilated only to three centimeters,” Susan says. In about 20 minutes, however, something completely unexpected happened: Susan began to feel the urge to push. “Apparently, I had dilated from three to ten centimeters,” she says. Soon she was on all fours in the back seat of their mini van, trying to ease the pain as Won drove as quickly as he could to the hospital.

“We’re not going to make it!” she yelled to husband. “Don’t push!” he yelled back. “We’ll make it!” But they didn’t make it. Won had just enough time to pull over in the parking lot of a Buick dealership ten minutes from the hospital, open the minivan door, and assist in the delivery of his daughter Mia. She was born under the parking lot’s blazing lights. “I wasn’t nervous,” Susan says. “I was just mad at my husband for not pulling over sooner.”

Water Baby

During an early September morning, when flood waters were rising around the homes in the small town of Pine Tops, North Carolina during a rain storm that went on for days, 21-year-old LaTessa Parker had an even bigger problem: She was having minor contractions. Rain or not, her baby was on the way. She decided to take refuge in her grandmother’s home up the street. Soon, however, the water began to swallow even this formidable structure. “We called the sheriff’s department to tell them that I was in labor, but they couldn’t get us out because they couldn’t drive on the road,” LaTessa says. She and her grandmother decided they had no choice but to leave the house. “We walked in waist-high water to a house farther up the street, where the water was lower. At that point, my contractions weren’t close, but they were coming,” she says. “I was pretty scared.”

By 4:00 A.M., LaTessa and 20 of her neighbors had taken refuge in the attic of one neighbor’s home while the water level continued to rise. By noon, her contractions were ten minutes apart. “I was starting to panic,” she says. “I figured I might be giving birth right there in front of all my neighbors. When I looked out the window, I could see that water was covering the street signs.”

Finally, a patrol boat pulled up to the attic window to take LaTessa to an ambulance on dry land a mile away. “It was a huge relief,” she says. But a portion of the road that the ambulance had driven in on had washed out while LaTessa was being rescued by boat; it was impossible to get back by road to the hospital. With her contractions coming at five-minute intervals, a helicopter from a local hospital found a place to land. LaTessa was airlifted to the hospital just in time for the birth of her son, Rodriek.