Metro Detroit woman reunites with nurses who delivered her baby at restaurant
ROYAL OAK, Mich. (CBS DETROIT) - "It was all very, very fast, but she was ready," says Alyse Sparkman, just a week after giving birth at Royal Oak's Lily's Seafood Grill and Brewery.
Mom, baby and dad are all healthy, just a week after baby Penelope waited for no one.
Alyse Sparkman said doctors said she still had time, despite having consistent contractions. She and her husband, Sean Sparkman, were told to do some walking, find some stairs, and get a bite to eat.
So they chose Lily's Seafood Grill and Brewery.
"She wasn't dilated to the point where it was ready to admit her, and things were going to progress," Sean Sparkman said.
"I purposely parked in the parking garage a couple of blocks away from here, and I parked on the third floor on purpose. Halfway up the garage, so we'd have a long walk and do stairs all the way down. Which didn't really work out for me later on."
Alyse Sparkman took one bite into her salad, and her water broke.
Sean Sparkman took off to the parking garage. By the time he got the car, Penelope had already arrived.
"She calls me, and she goes, 'I had the baby; get here.' I went, 'No, you didn't.' And she's like, 'Don't feel bad. I had the baby; get here," Sean Sparkman said.
While dad was moving at the speed of light, nurses Patricia Worton and Kim Boustany were celebrating a birthday at the table next to them and watched the situation develop. It wasn't long before instincts kicked in.
"Everything I've ever done as a nurse in 25 years, I never expected I would reach down and there would be a baby's head in my hands," Worton said as she recalled Penelope's birth.
Worton says in those moments, there was no one else around besides the two nurses and Alyse Sparkman, despite a crowd watching.
In a matter of minutes, a 4-pound, 8-ounce Penelope Lily — "Lily" for the restaurant's namesake — was born.
The restaurant has installed a plaque at the table where it all happened.
"There's so many bad stories out there and different ways this could have gone, but they jumped in and helped and did the right thing, and because of it, we have her," said Alyse Sparkman.
