Oh Baby! Florida Mom Gives Birth on Highway
Latoya Desamour, of Brandon, Fla., has given birth to four children. Three of them in the hospital and her fourth child, she can now say, on a highway.
"This is the last one," Desamour, 34, told Goodmorningamerica.com. "I've always had quick deliveries but not as quick as this. This is out of the ordinary."
Out of the ordinary is an understatement for Desamour, an elementary school teacher, who delivered a healthy, 6 lb, 3 oz., baby girl, Arabella Grace Desamour, while her husband drove her to the doctor's office Tuesday morning.
Texas Mom Delivers Quadruplets
"I felt contractions but I had a meeting scheduled so I didn't want to leave school," Desamour said. "As the morning progressed I felt like I should probably go home so I left work around 9:45 a.m. and when I got home I felt another contraction and so I said, 'Let's just go straight to the doctor's office.'"
That plan was diverted when Desamour had a contraction so strong she told her husband, Wiclef, 35, to drive her straight to the hospital instead. About 15 minutes away from the hospital, their plan was diverted again.
Conn. Woman Delivers Home-Alone Birth
"I had the urge to push and I pushed and I told my husband to call 911," said Desamour, whose due date was Sept. 29. "I said, 'Pull over. She's here. She's here.'"
Wiclef pulled the car over on the side of Interstate 4, the major highway that runs through Florida, and flagged down a Florida Highway Patrol trooper who was writing an incident report for a nearby accident.
"He [the officer] looked at my husband like what are you talking about as my husband said, 'My baby. She's here. She's here,'" Desamour said. "He [Wiclef] was a little loopy for a while. He kept running around saying, 'She's here. She's here.'"
Wiclef was so stunned by his daughter's unplanned arrival that the words, "She's here. She's here," were all he could mutter to the 911 dispatcher before accidentally hanging up.
Mom Delivers Twins on Utah Highway
"The 911 dispatcher had to call back because they didn't understand what he meant," Desamour said.
Once the Highway Patrol officer on the scene figured out what Wiclef was saying, he came over to the couple's car, put his gloves on, lifted Arabella from the car's floor to her mom's lap and covered her with a blanket while they all waited for paramedics to arrive.
Fifteen or so minutes later, the Desamours and their newborn arrived at St. Joseph's Hospital, where Arabella was supposed to be born, and were greeted by even more confusion.
"When I got there they thought I was coming from an emergency," Desamour said. "They didn't see that I had already had the baby."
Desamour and Arabella were both discharged from the hospital today. Desamour spoke to Goodmorningamerica.com as she was being driven by Wiclef home from the hospital, on the very same highway where Arabella was born.
"This is definitely better terms," said Desamour, whose other children are ages 7, 5 and 20 months. "I feel a lot calmer. I've been through this part before, taking a baby home. And she's strapped in a car seat and I have my seat belt on for this trip."