Mother gives birth to baby on Calif. sidewalk
IRVINE, Calif. -- When baby Benjamin decided to finally enter the world, he made quite the entrance.
Benjamin Paul Grindstaff was born on a sidewalk in Irvine, California on Sunday after his mother went into labor at her home. Benjamin was a few weeks late, but when the time came to be born, he decided to come quickly, reports CBS Los Angeles.
Rachel Grindstaff, Benjamin's mom, said when she felt she was going into labor she quickly walked out the front door to get in the car. But she immediately knew she wasn't going to make it much further.
"As soon as we got to the sidewalk I said, 'He's coming now,'" she recalled to CBS LA.
Robert Grindstaff, her husband, called 911. The dispatcher told him to tell his wife to get back into the house.
But baby Benjamin was wasting no time. Rachel, who can be overheard screaming in the background of the 911 call, knew she wouldn't be able to move, reports CBS LA.
"The only thing that went through my head is I didn't want him to fall, so I just kind of laid down instinctively," Rachel said.
Robert got down to support Rachel's back. And Mary McDonald, a friend and trained doula, helped deliver the baby right there on the sidewalk.
"It was just a couple pushes," McDonald said. "She laid down, and I started to see the head as she was pushing."
It was the Grindstaffs' fifth baby, but perhaps Rachel's most memorable birth.
"I laugh when I think about it," she said to CBS LA. "It makes for an interesting story, that's for sure."
Both Rebecca and Benjamin are doing well.