A Kentucky mom relied on her instincts when she started having some light contractions while working near home. She decided she had time to run some errands with her kids before she should call her midwives to meet her for her planned home water birth.
You know what they say about the best-laid plans. Heather Skaats was driving in the car with her five children when she felt the pain intensifying enough for her to pull over.
What happened next happened quickly. She called her husband, told him she was about to give birth on the side of the road, and moments later, her son made his entrance to the world. She was able to get him home still attached to her and called her midwives to tend to her hasty newborn.
Heather was planning a water birth for her sixth child, but he insisted on something a little more memorable. Heather's subtle contractions quickly intensified while she was in the car driving with her five kids.
"I was having light contractions before we left, so I figured I had time to run an errand," she told Today Parents.
Heather had a lot of support for her theory. Her due date wasn't for another three weeks. With her older children, she'd labored for hours.
"I thought I wouldn't have a baby in my arms until eight or ten hours later," she shared.
As she felt things intensifying, she tried to drive a little faster to get home. When she realized she wasn't going to make it, she managed to remain calm.
"I pulled over — assured the kids that everything was OK — and then I grabbed my phone and got out of the van," she said.
As she squatted roadside, Heather's water broke.
"I put my hand down there and his head started coming out with his body," she said.
"I didn't even have to push. It was so quick. I was on the phone with my husband, Nick, and 20 seconds later, I was like, 'He's here!'"
Heather welcomed a 7-pound baby boy.
"He started crying right away, and he just opened his eyes and looked at me and I said, 'Yeah, buddy that was fun, huh?'" she said.
The baby boy was still attached to her placenta, which she had not yet delivered. She wrapped him in a blanket and drove back home.
"I think the kids were in shock. They were pretty quiet," she said.
Heather and Nick are parents to 13-year-old Kaelynn, 11-year-old Aneleigh, 6-year-old Austin, 3-year-old Luke, 2-year-old Alyssa, and their newborn boy, whom they are considering naming Wolf or Porter for the streets he was born near. They are also parents to Leilah, who died of cancer when she was 4 in 2016.
Once she got home, Heather delivered her placenta with the help of her oldest daughter, Kaelynn. Her midwives then arrived to find Heather still relatively calm and composed.
"I think having having home births in the past sort of taught me to trust my body," Heather said.
"Knowing the process really helped."
Heather shared the wild story in her own words in a Facebook post shared with family and friends.
"Well, I had another wonderful water birth planned at home just as I had in the past. That didn't go as planned. I was literally driving in the car with all the kids when I felt like I needed to pull over. Got out of the car, went to the other side in the grass and literally had a baby," she wrote.
"It was so quick! I only thought these things happened in movies! I then proceeded to drive to the house with him still attached where my midwives arrived about 10 minutes later. And then we had to pick the grass off him. ."
"I'm still in shock that I delivered my own baby on the side of the road. But he is perfect, all of the kids are happy to have him here, and today was a day I will never forget," she continued.
"My husband is not too happy about missing it but at least he was on the phone with me when I called to say 'I'm going to have a baby on the side of the road' and 5 seconds later he came out … I was literally just out in the barn feeding horses 20 minutes before he came out. It was that fast."
