Baby Born On I-95 As Parents Rush To Hospital In Snowstorm
BEVERLY (CBS) – A mother, father and baby boy are happy and healthy at Beverly Hospital - a miracle, once you learn how they got there.
"95 South in the area of Exit 52 for a female party in active labor," a dispatcher said over the scanner the night of November 19, during a snowstorm.
She was talking about the Fazzie family of Philadelphia: mom Kathryn, dad Nick, daughter Lucia, and a soon-to-be baby.
The family was on a New England vacation – one final trip as a family of three, until Kathryn didn't feel well at their hotel in Portsmouth.
She was 32 weeks pregnant, and as a precaution, the couple decided going to the hospital was the right thing to do. Nick quickly packed up and hit the road.
"It was snowing and my baby's in the back, my wife's in the front," he remembers.
"It was 3 in the morning, and there's just tractor trailers flying by. That's all I remember," Kathryn adds.
They started to drive from Portsmouth to the only hospital they knew in the area: Mass General. But the newest family member decided he didn't want to wait.
Before Kathryn had time to process what was happening in their rental vehicle flying down 95 south, "he just came," she laughs.
In an adrenaline rush, she resorted to the skills her mother taught her after a career in trauma nursing: "hold the neck, clear the airway."
And it worked: a baby came out breathing and crying within minutes.
In the moment, Kathryn had forgotten to check one important detail. "After he comes out, I wrap him up in my scarf, but then I open it up and I'm like wait - it's a boy!"
And so, like in a storybook, Archie Boxford Fazzie came into the world. His middle name: a testament to the town where he made his dramatic entrance. "It just makes sense," Kathryn said. "I can't imagine another name for this baby."
Twelve days after his birth, 5-pound Archie sleeps in his NICU room at Beverly Hospital surrounded by Patriots and Red Sox gear: a gag gift to his Eagles-fan parents, sent by the EMTs and police officers who first responded to the family on 95.
"I just can't imagine him being born anywhere else," Kathryn said. "Because of the NICU staff, he's here, and he's healthy."
Archie is doing well - and recently came out of his incubator. Mom and Dad don't yet know when they'll get to bring him home to Philadelphia.