Baby Born In 24-Year-Old Uber Driver's Car: 'I Didn't Stop Honking'
DENVER (CBS4) - A Denver Uber driver got more than he bargained for on his last pickup of the night Monday when he picked up three passengers. Will Zabadne says one passenger needed a ride to the hospital, to deliver her baby.
"Distance was seven miles," he told CBS4's Karen Morfitt.
By the time they were on the road, Zabadne would realize the calm woman he met at the front door was already far into labor.
"Four or five minutes in she starts screaming, so I'm like 'okay, that's not normal,'" he said. "She was pulling on to this, and I was just trying to go as fast as possible because I saw how much pain she was in."
At 24 years old with no kids of his own, Zabadne wasn't sure what to do, but he kept driving.
"Literally, I didn't even stop honking, yelling, screaming 'please everybody get out of the road! This is an emergency,'" Zabadne said.
He would make it to Swedish Medical's Southwest Campus in Littleton, pulling up to the first building he could find. Turns out it was the wrong one, and his next stop the doors were locked.
"I look back, and I literally see the baby coming out, like literally its all out," he said.
He was out of time and started pounding on the windows trying to get someone to help.
"At first they thought I was her husband and I was like 'no, I'm not her husband! I'm the Uber driver!' They're like 'what? You're the Uber driver?'" he said laughing.
That passenger would end up having her baby right there in his backseat. A moment he says left him both stunned and a little less nervous for when it is really his turn.
"After the whole thing I literally called my mom and literally told her 'thank you,'" he laughed. "I feel more prepared for when the time comes."
Even after paramedics would take over, Zabadne stayed, waiting for about an hour to make sure everyone was okay.
Doctors told him the baby had the cord wrapped around his neck and that he likely saved the child's life by getting them to the hospital when he did.
The woman's family told him mom and her baby boy were doing great.
Karen Morfitt joined the CBS4 team as a reporter in 2013. She covers a variety of stories in and around the Denver metro area. Connect with her on Facebook, follow her on Twitter @karenmorfitt or email her tips.