Colorado couple gives birth to baby on highway; mother says "it just feels unreal"

Her life started in the fast lane -- literally. One Colorado 5-month-old has already overcome incredible odds.

"911. What is the address of the emergency?" a 911 dispatcher asked.

"I'm on I-225 heading north," the caller responded. "My wife is in very active labor, and I'm pulling the car over."

Jennifer and Ricardo Maestas of Littleton never imagined this is how their second child would come into the world.

"I felt really good all day and just had some mild cramping," Jennifer said.

At just 35 1/2 weeks pregnant, Jennifer lost her mucus plug on the morning of Feb. 18. She called Ricardo, who hopped on the first flight home from a work trip.

"It was literally the moment that I heard the garage, and he walked in the door. Then suddenly my body was like, now is the time to have this baby," Jennifer said. "Waddled down the stairs, got in the car, and just took off."

They headed for the Colorado Fetal Care Center at Children's Hospital Colorado in Aurora because their baby was expected to have Down syndrome and a heart defect.

Their doula was able to meet up with them on I-225.

"She got right behind us and was following us on the way, so that was just a miracle," Jennifer said.

But near the Yosemite Street exit, they realized they weren't going to make it.

"She's coming. We're going to have to pull this car over," Jennifer said.

"Hang on, the baby's coming out. I'm putting the phone down," Ricardo said to the dispatcher in the call.

"Our doula jumps out of her car, jumps into our car, closes the door. Mind you, she's wearing a dress and she's straddling me in the front seat of our car… our doula opens the door and she says, 'Rick, come catch your baby,'" Jennifer said.

Ricardo caught their baby as she was born.

"She delivered!" Ricardo can be heard exclaiming on the 911 call.

The couple stayed on with 911 while the doula took care of mother and baby.

"Her heart rate is at like 130. There's clear breath sounds on both sides. We've got good tone, we're turning pink, and we're starting to root at the breast," the doula told the 911 dispatcher in the call.

Baby Kiana was healthy and breathing despite her unusual entrance to the world.

"I was like crossing my legs. We need to make it. This can't happen this way. And then the moment she came out, I was like, 'This is how it was supposed to happen. This is it,'" Jennifer said.

"I think I'd be in trouble if I didn't take a picture. Is that okay, guys?" Ricardo can be heard asking in the 911 call. He snapped a few photos of mother, baby and doula in the car. Soon after, the ambulance arrived.

"I'm going to go talk to paramedics. They're here. Can I hang up on you?" Ricardo asked the dispatcher in the call.

"Yes, that's fine. Thank you. Congratulations," the dispatcher responded before ending the call.

Paramedics took the family to Children's Hospital Colorado, but they weren't out of the woods yet.

"We were about to come home when she caught RSV," Jennifer said.

Kiana was intubated for 12 days, battled severe reflux and later underwent open-heart surgery. Luckily, the surgery went very well.

While in the NICU, Kiana's parents say she was the first baby in the Children's Hospital Colorado unit to use her own mom's breast milk for fortification. They say they did it with the help of a Houston-based freeze drying company called Milkify.

After nearly 130 days in the hospital, Kiana finally came home.

"Sister!" Kiana's older sister Lani exclaimed, while lovingly tickling the baby.

"Finally just having our family all together under the same roof is just everything we could have ever hoped for," Jennifer said.

After starting life with an unexpected detour, it's finally time for Kiana and her family to focus on the road ahead.

"Every day that we think about the story, it just feels unreal to us," Jennifer said. "The fact that she has Down syndrome and had this cardiac defect, and still just did miraculously well during that transition… The fact that all of that accumulated in this beautiful story of her being born on the side of the highway, and you know, obviously that turned into a crazy long and wild NICU and hospital journey. But she has been so remarkably strong and capable for every step of the way."