The mom of six was expecting an 8-hour home delivery, but was blindsided while running errands in her car
Kentucky mom Heather Skaats is making headlines after she delivered her baby on the side of the road last Sunday. While this might sound like a parent’s worst nightmare, it gets worse: She gave birth completely alone—and then drove all the way home with the baby still attached to her. STILL ATTACHED! Incredible.
As reported in TODAY, Skaats says she had a deceptively calm late-pregnancy day on Sunday. Although she was having light contractions, her due date was still three weeks away, so she continued life as usual, feeding her horses and running errands. When she got in the car with her kids on Sunday morning, she had no idea that her planned home water birth (which would have been her sixth!) would never happen.
Skaats says her contractions got stronger and stronger during the drive, and while at first she sped up to get home faster, she suddenly felt the need to pull over. She told her kids everything would be okay, grabbed her phone, called her husband, walked into the grass and squatted. “I put my hand down there and his head started coming out with his body,” she told TODAY. “I didn’t even have to push… I was on the phone with my husband, Nick, and 20 seconds later, I was like, ‘He’s here!’”
She was able to catch the seven-pound boy, who opened his eyes and started crying. “Got out of the car, went to the other side in the grass and literally had a baby,” she said in a Facebook post. “It was so quick!”
With her placenta still attached, she got back into the car and introduced her kids to their new sibling. The children, ranging in age from two-year-old to 13, were understandably stunned and pretty quiet.
Back at her house, her 13-year-old daughter, Kaelynn, helped deliver the placenta in the shower. The midwife arrived shortly after and, among other things, helped Skaats pick the grass off the newborn.
While she said she’s in shock that she delivered her own baby on the side of the road, Skaats credits her previous water births with helping her trust her body and the process and keep calm. “He is perfect, all of the kids are happy to have him here, and today was a day I will never forget,” she said on Facebook.
And while the baby doesn’t have a name yet, her husband has suggested naming him The Flash.
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