Real-Life Crazy and Unforgettable Birth Stories

Universal Pictures/YouTube

Movie births are always dramatic — water breaking in public, deliveries in elevators, partners who can’t keep their cool. The real thing, we like to think, goes more smoothly. And usually, it does. But sometimes truth really does rival fiction. Here, four women share their exciting, wild, did-that-just-happen? birth stories. From a mom delivering at a gas station to one who didn’t even know she was pregnant, each of these women had an especially memorable birth — and they wouldn’t have had it any other way.

Janice T.
Oakdale, NY
“From day one, I had a feeling about my delivery. I’d tell people: ‘This baby is going to fall out — no pain meds, no epidural — all I’m going to need is a catcher’s mitt.’”

Fast forward to a warm June night. My stomach was bothering me. It did occur to me that the discomfort might have been the beginning of labor, but I discounted it, as I wasn’t due for another two weeks. And honestly, there was zero pain. But after an hour or so of discomfort, I said to my husband, ‘Let’s time the gas pains.’ Two minutes, then one minute, then 30 seconds apart. I trotted off to the bathroom (again), and decided to check on what was going on down there. ‘Crowning’ is what was going on, so we called the doctor, who told us to meet him at the hospital.

Stuck at a red light, my husband glanced over and said, ‘What are you doing?’

'Taking my underwear off.'

'Why?'

'Because the baby is pushing them off.'

When the light turned green, we pulled into the first gas station we could find. At which point, our brilliant baby came spinning out all on his own.

As luck would have it, there was a policeman there. My husband ran to him. I opened my door, holding the baby in my hands in front of me (between my legs), umbilical cord still attached. I yelled to a woman getting gas at the next pump. ‘Look! I just had a baby!’ Her eyes popped.

The policeman called an ambulance, pulled out his first aid kit, cut the umbilical cord, and before you knew it, we were safe and sound at the hospital, cleaned up and watching ‘The Tonight Show.’”

STORY: Woman’s Stomach Pains Are Actually Labor… With Twins

Gina L.
St. Louis, MO
"On St. Patrick’s Day, 2012, my husband was two days shy of 30 and we were nine weeks away from becoming parents. We decided we better celebrate in a big way, so we had a dozen friends over for cocktails. There was a lot of celebrating, and a lot of drinking. Around 10 that night, I was chatting with a friend in our dining room when I felt a gush of warm fluid soak the upholstery on the chair below me.

Suddenly, I was being ushered through my front door in tears, leaving a houseful of stunned and quickly sobering partygoers. Finding a driver sober enough to get us to the hospital would have been a challenge, except one guest was a friend just three weeks from her due date. I climbed into the back of her SUV, and sandwiched myself between a car seat (which, it occurred to me, we still needed to purchase) and the most stunned and least sober of the partygoers — my husband.

After I checked into the hospital, my 37-weeks-pregnant friend — the one who drove us — waddled in with her husband and no fewer than 4 cups of coffee for my husband (still stunned, still drunk) and told me that when she entered through the ER, they kept trying to admit her!

Twenty hours later, I headed to labor and delivery. I entered the delivery room at 6pm and by 6:15, I was a mother.

Five weeks later, we took our son home with us. Today, he loves trains and trucks and animals and tolerates his little brother (also born at 31 weeks). My husband is no longer allowed to drink heavily or go out to eat without me once I hit the 3rd trimester. I’ll be 31 weeks pregnant with our third boy on Thanksgiving. We have no holiday plans.”

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Jess P., minutes after giving birth in her living room. Photo by her husband, Mike. 

Jess P.
Annapolis, MD
"As I neared the end of my third pregnancy, I was a little nervous. My first two kids had both come within minutes of the doctor breaking my water, so I thought this might be another quick one.

On February 20, at just about 40 weeks, I started to feel labor pains. They started out slowly — 15 to 20 minutes apart — and, after two hours, when they were 12 minutes apart, we decided to be safe and get ready to go. I was still in light labor, so I started to suggest that my husband and I take a quick walk to get things moving before we headed to the hospital, but was interrupted by an incredibly strong and intense contraction. A couple minutes later, another contraction. As that one ended, my water broke.

I asked my husband to call an ambulance, as I couldn’t imagine sitting down through a contraction as strong as the last two. I knew they’d be here quickly, since we live two blocks from the fire station. As he was trying desperately to call 911 from his iPhone, I started to have another contraction. This one felt different. In a voice much calmer than I was actually feeling, I gave my husband the news. ‘Honey, I either need to go to the bathroom or we are having a baby.’ A quick check made clear our baby was crowning.

I frantically searched the room for a comfortable place to lie down that wouldn’t be ruined by delivery, but, finding none, I decided squatting was a perfect position. My husband rushed over, put out his hands and caught our son as he twisted his way into the world, about 10 minutes after that first heavy contraction. Once he determined that both baby and I were fine, my husband called 911 and we heard the ambulance start up and head our way. We’d already planned for a delayed cord clamping, so he didn’t need to worry about sterilizing scissors or anything like that – he was free to put the 911 dispatcher on speaker and snap some pictures of me, sitting on our living room floor, cradling our newborn baby. Not quite what we had envisioned, but something we will never forget!”

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Julie A.
Indianapolis, IN
“I’m a teacher and was enjoying the last few days of winter break in January, 2012, when I woke up feeling pretty sick. I had intense cramps and couldn’t get any relief. I found myself pacing around the house and going to the bathroom every five minutes. I’m usually pretty tough and avoid doctors at all cost but by 11:30 the pain was so bad that I told my then-boyfriend (now my fiancé), Ryan, that we needed to head to the emergency room. I didn’t think I could make it to the ER without a bathroom stop, so we pulled into an Arby’s. In the Arby’s bathroom, the pain grew even more intense. I started bleeding, and as much as I wanted to leave that bathroom, I couldn’t do it. Eventually, Ryan and an incredibly caring Arby’s employee convinced me to let them call an ambulance. I remember the EMT asking me several times if I was pregnant. I kept telling him I wasn’t, but he kept asking — it was so aggravating!

The ambulance brought me to the hospital and, lying in the Emergency Room, I started to feel a lot of pressure. I reached my hand down and felt something. I asked the nurse in the room what it was, and I remember him screaming, ‘Whoa!!’ The nurses told me it was a baby — I couldn’t believe it. It may sound strange that I didn’t know I was pregnant, but I didn’t really gain any weight or show any signs. I wore the same clothes the whole nine months, and I attributed any small weight gain or exhaustion to my new job teaching fifth grade. Plus, my period had been irregular or virtually non-existent for a few years because of my pill, so nothing seemed abnormal.

When Ryan finally arrived (he had driven first to the wrong hospital), they were waiting for him, but couldn’t disclose any information since we weren’t married. He walked into the room only to find me with spread legs and baby crowning. As crazy as it was in that room, I’ll never forget the look on Ryan’s face. He took off his coat, clapped his hands together and said, ‘Ok, let’s do this!’ Olivia Edith was born at 1:40 p.m.

Calling family and friends — including my parents, who were on vacation in Vegas — to tell them the news was a very difficult, sometimes funny, process.

Within two days, because of our amazing family and friends, we had everything we needed to raise a newborn baby! We could not have gotten through this without their love and support. To this day, my dad still claims he hit the jackpot in Vegas.”