A father rushing to a hospital for the birth of his daughter had to stop at the first emergency room he could find when the girl was born in the car. The delivery ended at the Washington DCVA Medical Center, which doesn’t have an obstetrics department.
Two months ago, Tiara Taylor was 39 weeks pregnant and had just had a checkup with her medical team when just before dawn she went into labor.
“I was like, it’s go time,” she said. “I texted him and I texted my mom and I let them know that I think it’s time to go.”
The father got her in the car and raced her back toward the hospital, but baby Harmonii had other plans.
We're making it easier for you to find stories that matter with our new newsletter — The 4Front. Sign up here and get news that is important for you to your inbox.
“I just kept feeling the pressure and I was like, ‘I can’t hold it anymore,’” Taylor said.
Soon she was holding her baby after giving birth in the backseat.
“The backseat of my brand new car,” the father said. “My brand new car.”
Local
Washington, D.C., Maryland and Virginia local news, events and information
He pulled into the first place he saw with an emergency sign on the entrance: the Washington DC VA Medical Center, where staffers are more accustomed to handling senior citizens and younger war heroes and where there is no obstetrics department.
About 5:30 a.m., an emergency technician yelled into the ER, ‘’We need a doctor outside.”
“What’s interesting is that the delivery process isn’t done when the baby is born,” Dr. Miriam Bukhs said. “There’s still a number of steps the physician has to manage.”
She threw on a pair of gloves and helped complete the delivery of Harmonii, who was still connected by the umbilical cord in the backseat of the family sedan.
“We have training in how to complete the birth, how to protect mom, how to keep mom safe and how to evaluate baby,” Bukhs said.
Bukhs said Harmonii brought a type of joy they have never experienced before at the medical center.
“Especially after the last 20 months or so, we’re seeing a lot of really severe illness and sadness in the emergency department,” she said. “The entire emergency department staff was incredibly excited to be able to celebrate such a happy occasion.”
