Baby Born In Pontiac With Help Of 2 Midwives Headed For Coffee
By Kathy Walsh
AURORA, Colo. (CBS4)- A woman in labor and heading to a hospital had to make a detour. The baby couldn't wait. It was chaos in the car and then they got lost. But being re-routed turned out to be a blessing.
"She's wonderful, she's doing great," said Rosa Martinez.
Her sweet baby, Starla, was 6 pounds 11 ounces, 18 and a quarter inches long. She was born at 8:45 a.m. Wednesday in a Pontiac Grand Am outside a coffee shop on the Anschutz Medical campus.
"I'm still in shock. I'm like… exhausted. It's been a long day," said Martinez, 31, from her bed at the University of Colorado Hospital.
Martinez wasn't due until Aug. 8, but labor started early in the morning and escalated quickly.
"I know I was in pain," Martinez told CBS4 Health Specialist Kathy Walsh.
With Martinez' mother behind the wheel, they set out from Aurora to a hospital about 10 miles away. But baby couldn't wait, so they made a detour to the University of Colorado Hospital.
"Everything was just so chaotic, she just wasn't listening," said Martinez about her mother.
Her mom ended up making a wrong turn, but amazingly into the right people. There were firefighters outside the Dazbog coffee shop.
"She got out screaming, I was already screaming," said Martinez.
Then, in a crazy coincidence, two certified nurse midwives from UCH were headed for coffee and heard the commotion.
"We heard a woman screaming and it sounded like a familiar noise to us," said midwife Leah Rashidyan.
Amy Nacht has been a midwife for 16 years.
"It's my first car birth," said Nacht.
It was Rashidyan's first day on the job.
The baby was born with one push.
"That's what we come to work to do and it just happened to be in a very different location than I expected today," said Rashidyan.
Martinez thanked the two as they admired the baby.
Starla was sleeping, oblivious to her unusual entrance, but it's all in her name.
"'Starla' because of her making the news on her first day being born here. So she is a star", said Martinez.
Starla's father, Aaron Chapman, was at work and didn't make it to the birth. At the hospital he said, he thought about naming his daughter 'Pontiac' but then decided on Starla.
Kathy Walsh is CBS4's Weekend Anchor and Health Specialist. She has been with CBS4 for more than 30 years. She is always open to story ideas. Follow Kathy on Twitter @WalshCBS4.