“I can’t believe we had a baby in a car.”
I love that quote. Sounds like the title of an Adam Sandler rom-com or a John Mulaney Netflix comedy special.
But for Corey Farrell, whose wife Kayla did indeed deliver their second child in the front seat of the couple’s 2023 Chevy Equinox earlier this week, it perfectly summed up the Millbrook couple’s very serious adventure that began on Monday with early morning contractions and ended Thursday when 8-pound, 14-ounce Charlee Mae was released from Central DuPage Hospital.
But all the drama occurred in a much shorter time span: an hour and three minutes.
The intention was to get to Mercy Medical Center in Aurora on Oct. 20 after Kayla began having sharper than usual contractions around 7:30 a.m. Corey Farrell, on his way to work as a union representative, turned quickly around upon receiving that emergency call from his wife, and after securing care for their 16-month-old daughter, the couple headed to the Aurora hospital.
Perhaps they would even have made it had Dad not hit so many red lights.
Farrell, who describes himself as a “pretty calm kind of person” anyway, tried not to panic as his wife’s pain intensified … or when her water broke and she informed him in no uncertain terms, “We are having this baby now …”
Her husband’s first reaction: “Are you serious?” His second response was to call 911 – but only after pulling over in a gated parking lot at Indian Trail and Timberlake Circle.
As the baby began to emerge, Farrell, kneeling on the hard asphalt as his wife pushed her darndest in the passenger seat of the car, could see the umbilical cord wrapped around his daughter’s tiny neck. Using a finger he gently pulled it away from the head, and as soon as he did, “the rest of her came out.”
Fortunately, the newborn’s chest began to move as she started taking those first breaths of life. She “peeped open her eyes” to the bright sunlight, he recalled. And as Farrell began gently rubbing her back, his infant child let out a strong and oh-so-welcome cry.
Also fortunate: The Aurora Fire Department, despite a busy, albeit normal, morning, arrived almost immediately. I can only imagine the sight as Capt. Shawn Clements walked toward the couple and watched this “very focused” father deliver his baby girl at 9:43 a.m. on the side of Indian Trail.
“He did an excellent job,” said Clements. “The difficult part was over by the time we got there.”
Then again, first responders are trained to handle the tough stuff.
Pregnancy emergencies occur on a regular basis with the Aurora Fire Department, according to Clements, where “we get the mother to the hospital” in time for delivery. But this scenario was far more rare, he added, noting that a first responder will likely deliver a baby personally only once or twice in a career.
In his 20-plus years on the job, Clements has run into this sort of scenario – where the baby has already arrived – “five or six times,” and has delivered two newborns himself. So of course some of the crew on Monday were experiencing this kind of call for the first time. What made this delivery even more unusual, said Clements, is that the birth occurred not at home but on the side of the road.
No wonder Farrell described himself as “in shock” as he handed his daughter and wife over to these experts, who still had the critical job of making sure mother and child were cared for properly after such a dramatic labor and delivery.
It’s “a special individual who wants to serve” in this emergency capacity, where there is no room for panic, Clements said, adding that because all first responders are human, too, there’s always going to be a certain level of nervousness when experiencing a unique situation.
It was “absolutely a memorable day” for those in the fire department, the captain said, pointing out that first responders are often “in front of people at the worst or most tragic moment of their lives.” So when they are part of something as beautiful as the birth of a child, “they are more than excited … rejuvenated.”
It was “a great opportunity to be part of something special,” said Clements, also noting “normal is not a word that goes around the firehouse.”
Farrell remembers hearing congratulations and assurances that “everything would be OK” from the AFD crew. The good news is that, while Charlee was transferred on Tuesday to the NICU at Central DuPage, “mainly as a precaution against infection” because of her quick and traumatic birth, the baby was released on Thursday and now is happily at home in Millbrook.
“You see this kind of thing in the movies but never think it will be you,” said Farrell of this special delivery. Then he gave a shout-out to the Aurora Fire Department crew who answered the call and “did what they were supposed to do” for his young family.
“I appreciate those guys so much.”
dcrosby@tribpub.com
