Emily Johnson was a lot more relaxed when it came to her second baby. She was eager to meet her little boy, and she felt she had it all under control.
The soon-to-be mom of two was still a week out from her due date when she began feeling contractions. She was ready to kick her plan into action: get to the hospital and have an epidural to help with the birth. She'd been in labor for 18 hours with her first little boy, and since the hospital was just five minutes away, there was no reason to rush.
Until there was a reason to rush, of course. After three hours of contractions about 10 minutes apart, they sped up fast. Emily and her husband, Michael, called her mom to stay with their 3-year-old as they went to the hospital. Emily made it to the car door before realizing there was no time.
Emily and Michael Johnson's second child, Thomas, made quite an entrance into the world. It was just after 9 p.m. on the evening of November 4 when the couple called Emily's mom, Kristy Sparks, to take care of 3-year-old Blake as they headed to the hospital.
The couple worked quickly and started moving to load into the car before Emily realized it wouldn't be happening that way.
"The contractions went from three minutes to two minutes to one minute in a matter of 20 to 30 minutes, and we are like, 'Oh, we got to get into the car we have to go,'" Emily told KCRA.
"We got to the car and I just said, 'No, I can't get into this car.'"
At that point, Emily started following her instincts. "I'm just like, 'I'm going to get on the grass,'" she shared.
"'I'm going to be here. This is my spot.'"
When Kristy pulled up, she saw her daughter on the grass and got down there with her. There, she saw the baby's head. Michael, who was on the phone with a 911 dispatcher, worked with Kristy to coach Emily as she delivered his son.
"By the time they walked up to me, I had a baby in my arms crying. It was unreal," Kristy shared.
"I just laid back in the grass and took a nice deep breath," Emily said.
"I never want to do that again."
There was another surprise in store for the family when they learned their neighbor's Ring camera had captured the whole scene.
"I'm just thankful that I was facing in that direction because otherwise, I don't think we'd be able to share the video footage with anybody," Emily joked.
About two weeks after welcoming Thomas, the family reunited with the paramedics who arrived on the scene and got mom and baby to the hospital.
Firefighter paramedics Jerry DiFilippi and Joe Shorum commended everyone for doing so great despite the chaotic situation.
"Grandma did a great job by grabbing the baby, and we were able to go to work and do what we needed to do," Jerry DiFilippi told Fox40.
"Jerry focused on the baby. I was focusing on mom," Joe Shorum shared.
"I asked dad to get me a stack of dry towels. He did a great job with coming out with basically every towel in the house, and we used a couple of them to dry little Thomas off. Got her on the gurney and away we went."
