Pa. Native Forced To Evacuate During Irma Welcomes Baby Boy
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BIRMINGHAM, Alabama (KDKA) --- A woman from Punxsutawney who currently lives in Tampa delivered a healthy baby boy after worrying about where she would go if she went into labor when Hurricane Irma hit Florida's Gulf Coast.
Kimberly O'Byrne was 39 weeks pregnant last Friday when she, her husband and their first child were ordered to evacuate from their home on MacDill Air Force Base.
O'Byrne was hoping to go to Florida Hospital of Tampa Saturday in case she had her baby, but she says hospital staff told her she couldn't be admitted until she was actually in labor.
"I instantly burst into tears because now I feel like I don't have somewhere to go," O'Byrne told KDKA-TV last Friday.
The O'Byrne family eventually decided to make their way to Birmingham, Alabama. O'Byrne's husband is from the Birmingham area and has extended family living there.
A spokeswoman for Princeton Baptist Medical Center in Birmingham said it took the O'Byrne family thirteen hours to get to Birmingham, and they almost ran out of gas on the way.
The hospital says the O'Byrne family decided to stay in Alabama after the Irma passed, to avoid going into labor while on the road.
Thursday morning, Dallas James O'Byrne arrived. The hospital said he weighed in at 7 pounds, 10 ounces and measures 20 and a half inches long. Both mom and baby are healthy, and 2-year-old K.J. O'Byrne is said to be very excited about becoming a big brother.
The spokeswoman said baby Dallas' grandfather and grandmother were also born at Princeton Baptist Medical Center.
