'Superhero' mom delivers healthy baby boy in parking lot
HURST (CBSDFW.COM) - A North Texas family is grateful for their healthy baby after a delivery in an unexpected place.
Andrea and Alfredo Ramirez made it to the parking lot of Texas Health Harris Methodist HEB, but didn't have enough time to get inside the hospital before their son's birth.
Andrea's contractions began early Friday morning.
"I was like, alright Lord, I need strength, I need courage, and I need hope," she said, her prayer as she breathed through each one.
When the contractions started to get more intense, she woke up her husband and their two young daughters.
"Once the girls left with their aunt, I was like it's time to go," said Andrea. "Get in the car. Once I am in the car, it needs to be moving."
The Ramirez family lives about a mile away from the hospital, so it only took a few minutes to get there. If the drive had been even 30 seconds longer, the baby would have been born in the car.
As soon as Andrea stepped out of the passenger side, she felt an overwhelming urge to push.
"And I was like oh no, we're not," she said. "We're in the parking lot. We're so close. But I looked over at Freddy, Alfredo, and I was like I'm going to start pushing."
The entrance to the hospital was just 50 yards away. Alfredo frantically tried to flag a security guard to alert someone inside, but there was no time to wait for help.
"When I heard him, 'Lord, we're about to have this baby what do I do?' I could see him frantic, but then when he transitioned down to one knee, put his hand out to catch the baby, I had all trust in him," Andrea said.
She delivered the baby standing up, into his father's arms.
"I saw his head, it started coming out," Alfredo said. "And then his back, his booty, landed on my right side, and then I saw, oh my gosh, I have a baby. Then I saw that he's a boy, and I was like it's a boy!"
Up until that moment, they didn't know his gender.
Hospital staff rushed to help the couple and new baby. They weren't expecting to find Andrea on her feet.
"So I walk over there and I said, 'Where's mom guys?' and she turns around and says, 'I'm right here' and she's holding the towel with the newborn infant inside," said Nik Swiderski, a nurse at Texas Health Harris Methodist HEB. "Something that could have been quite catastrophic, they handled so well that it led to such a good outcome."
Andrea and Alfredo said their first son is a 7 lb, 5 oz, God-given miracle.
"We decided to name him Alfredo Ramirez, Jr. considering his daddy did deliver him," said Andrea.
They can't wait to one day tell him how he came into this world.
"I married a superhero," Alfredo said.
Alfredo, Jr. was born on Friday the 13th. Swiderski's daughter was also born on a Friday the 13th.
Some say it's an unlucky day, but the Ramirez family plans to refer to it differently moving forward.
"We call it the Faithful Friday now," Alfredo said.
