In labour and racing along the highway towards the hospital, Gayla Thompson was certain she wasn’t going to make it. Her husband Ryan was behind the wheel, and she gave him an ultimatum – speed up or call an ambulance.
Convinced Gayla wasn’t actually in full labour, Ryan chose to keep driving. And his poor Jeep will never forgive him.
‘We just thought they were Braxton Hicks’
Gayla, a newborn photographer in Nashville, Tennessee says she didn’t realise that she was in labour for two days prior to the roadside birth. “Contractions were painful the day before, but super irregular, so we just figured really bad Braxton Hicks,” she explained on Facebook.
“How I slept through them … I don’t know! Woke up with the same contractions. Took a hot bath to see if that would help the pain. They quickly got VERY painful and quick, so realized it was a good time to tell Ryan it was time to call boss man and take me in.”
She explains that in her area, kids under 12 aren’t currently allowed in the hospital, so she had to pack a bag for her five-year-old son Connor and take him to daycare. Which is in the opposite direction to the hospital.
“I made a few phone calls while dropping him off, and headed to hospital. It was halfway there the contractions got SO bad, that I no longer could scream, and just went totally silent. That was the sign that told me baby is on the way, and we won’t make it!”
‘Get there or call 911!’
That’s when Gayla told her husband that he had a decision to make.
“I gave Ryan the option to get the hell there and speed up, or call 911. Which he refused to do because he was still convinced it was false labour. He finally called when Carson’s head crowned.”
Gayla says, “Carson was born at 8:56am on the side of interstate I-440! His head was stuck for two solid minutes between contractions/pushing. Ryan pulled him out on the next push, and held him while I ripped my top off for skin-to-skin. He grabbed some shirts from the back to cover him while we waited for paramedics.
“It was the quickest and longest 10 minutes to wait for them! They took me and baby to Vanderbilt (Hospital), as Ryan followed. I delivered my placenta at hospital (which was WAY more painful than the natural Jeep birth). Lost a ton of blood that prevented me yet again from getting any drugs. But all is well and baby is totally healthy! My poor Jeep LOL.”
Gayla told CafeMom that, “The Jeep smells straight up raw fish that was left out in the heat and not refrigerated.” Delightful.
More birth stories from the Grapeviner community…
- Birth Story: ‘My water broke at Kmart’
- Birth Story: The car birth caught on dashcam
- Birth Story: ‘Midwives cheered me on as I birthed in my car’
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