Woman Filmed Giving Birth on Front Lawn by Doorbell Cam in California
A California woman gave birth in her front yard last week, after running out of time to make it to the hospital.
Emily Johnson, from Vacaville in the north of the state, began having contractions last Thursday evening—one week before her baby was due, KCRA reported.
The contractions were occurring roughly every 10 minutes for a period of three hours. Johnson and her husband thought they had plenty of time to get to the nearest hospital, which is located just five minutes away from their home.
But then the contractions rapidly started occurring closer together and the couple realized the baby was coming very soon.
"The contractions went to five minutes, then three minutes, then two minutes, then one minute in a matter of about 20 to 30 minutes. And we're like, 'Oh, we got to get in the car. We gotta go,'" Johnson told KCRA.
The pair left the house but only got as far as the driveway before the mother decided that she wasn't going to be able to make it to the hospital.
"I got to the car, stood at the car and just said, 'No. I can't get into this car,'" Johnson said. "I'm just like, 'I'm going to get on the grass. I'm going to be here. This is my spot.'"
Johnson's mother, Kristy Sparks, arrived at the scene shortly after the couple had tried to leave in the car and saw the baby's head crowning, describing the experience as "surreal." Paramedics also arrived around this time.
Soon after, the baby, named Thomas, was delivered safely and healthy.
"By the time they walked up to me, I had a baby in my arms, crying," Sparks told KCRA. "It was unreal."
After the ordeal, the new mother laid back on the grass and took a deep breath.
"I just laid back in the grass and took a nice, deep breath," Johnson said. "'All right, he's here. I can relax. He's fine. But man, do I never want to do this again.'"
The mother told KRON that her partner got to cut the baby's umbilical cord with a scalpel in the front yard.
Johnson said she was "really eager" to have her baby. But "no one was expecting him to be born that day, definitely I wasn't. I totally did not want to have a baby on the lawn."
After the baby had been delivered, the family realized the whole process had been captured by their doorbell camera.
"I joke that it was like being a cow giving birth in the field because once I got to the hospital... I had grass clippings just falling off me, and the nurses were wiping dirt off my knees. And I'm like, 'Oh yeah, I did give birth in the lawn,'" Johnson told KCRA.
