No two birth stories are exactly alike — even when they're about the same baby. In "Both Sides of a Birth Story," partners share about their baby's birth day. Here, mom Jannelle and dad Max look back on the whirlwind journey that brought them to the birth of their third child.
Jannelle: Three days after reaching 37 weeks, I started feeling mild and sporadic contractions around 8 p.m. I felt calm and ready. My delivery with my first child lasted 27 hours, and 18 hours with my second baby. Based on those times, I figured I’d be holding my sweet baby girl in my arms around mid-afternoon the next day.
At 9 p.m., after I tucked our two children into bed, my contractions were lasting a minute and coming every seven minutes. I decided it was a good time to call the labor and delivery unit. I told the nurse this was my third delivery and we lived an hour away from the hospital. But since I didn’t meet the 5-1-1 rule (contractions every five minutes, lasting one minute each, for at least one hour), she told me to stay put. ‘You might not even be dilated, in which case we'd have to send you home,’ she said.
Max: After Jannelle gave me the update, I asked if she would feel okay if I went to bed and tried to catch some rest before things ramped up.
Jannelle: I told him to go for it, and settled myself on our living room couch, tracking the times and durations of my contractions while watching Gilmore Girls.
From there, things escalated quickly
Jannelle: For the next 30 minutes, the progress seemed slow, with my contractions still lasting one minute and coming every seven minutes. That changed when I got up to use the restroom.
In the time between when I left the couch and got back to it, I had two contractions. The intensity shot way up — both contractions lasted one minute, and they were only two minutes apart. At that point, I realized I might have waited too long.
The next 10 minutes were a whirlwind. I called my mom, who lives five minutes away, and told her the baby was coming and I needed to leave now. After I hung up, I walked as fast as I could to Max and woke him up. ‘I’m having a lot of contractions, and they’re starting to really hurt,’ I said. ‘We have to leave right now.’”
Max: I jumped out of bed, threw on a sweater, grabbed my wallet and keys, and then helped Jannelle walk to the car. I started feeling nervous because I realized the baby could arrive before we got to the hospital.
Thankfully, we already had our hospital bags packed and waiting in the trunk, so we didn’t have to worry about grabbing any last-minute items. As soon as I settled her into the front seat, Jannelle's mom and stepfather pulled into the driveway. We didn’t even wait to say goodbye to them. Instead, we raced away.
My water broke on the freeway
Jannelle: We were halfway to the hospital when I felt a little pop and a warm flood of water rushed all over my seat. My water never broke on its own with my first two pregnancies — so I started to panic. It felt like that sac of amniotic fluid had been the only barrier preventing my baby from coming out.
Max: I pushed our speed over 90 mph. I knew we might get pulled over by a cop, but figured they could help escort us to the hospital once they saw her in labor.
Jannelle: By that point, my contractions were so intense. With each one, I tried to relax my body by taking slow breaths. When I did that, the pain felt manageable. But then when my body relaxed, I’d feel the urge to push. And that scared me because we were still 15 minutes away from the hospital.
The idea of pushing her out without any nurses or doctors around made me feel so alone and unprepared. I felt determined to keep this baby in until we made it into the delivery room.
Max: Jannelle was visibly freaking out. She kept asking, ‘What if we don’t make it in time?’ with a panicked look in her eyes. To help ease her nerves, I reminded her that women around the world have babies outside of the hospital all the time. After that, I saw her shoulders drop and could tell that the reframe gave her a little peace. Saying it out loud made me feel a little more calm, too.
We met our daughter in the hospital parking lot
Max: I called the labor and delivery unit when we were one stoplight away. I told them that my wife was about to push and we needed a team to meet us at the entrance. But when we finally pulled up to the curb in front of the entrance, there was no one there. That caught me off guard.
Thankfully, there were a couple of wheelchairs right by the hospital doors. There was also a security guard, so I told him, "My wife is having a baby! I need you to call someone from the labor and delivery team down." Then I ran back to Jannelle with the wheelchair.
Jannelle: I think Max was only gone for three minutes, but I barely even noticed. All I could focus on was breathing through the contractions. When he finally made it back to the car, I couldn’t wait any longer. It was like my body knew Max — someone safe — was with me, and it finally had permission to switch into birth mode. As he stood there next to me, with the car door open, I yelled out, "She’s coming right now!" Then I gave my first push, and I felt her head, and then her shoulders in the crotch of my pajama pants.
Max: When she started pushing, I got excited and started cheering her on. I told her, “You’re doing it, you’re doing it!” In between her pushes, another security guard walked over and asked, “Is she having a baby?” I told him yes, and then he called out to another guard for help.
Jannelle: With one more push, I felt the rest of her body slip out and rest against my thighs.
Max: After the baby came out, I pulled Jannelle’s pants down, but didn’t grab her because I didn’t know what to do.
Jannelle: Everything that happened next felt like a whirlwind. Two nurses — who I think had just gotten off their shift — ran over to the car. They both were so sweet and excited, and their upbeat energy felt like such a balm in that moment, when I was feeling so shaky and bewildered.
Max: One of the nurses asked us if we had anything to cover the baby up with, and we didn’t. So she pulled the baby up and nestled her against Jannelle’s chest, telling Jannelle to hold her tight to keep the baby warm.
Jannelle: Holding her felt so beautiful and surreal. With my first two deliveries, after the labor and delivery team brought my babies to my chest, they went straight to work cleaning me up. All that commotion was almost distracting. But this time, it felt like it was just our baby, Evelynn, and me. In all the months leading up to this moment, I’d had a hard time picturing how a third baby would fit into our family. Life with two small kids already felt so full and hectic, and throwing a newborn into the mix sounded overwhelming. But as I held our new daughter, who had a full head of fluffy, jet-black hair, a rosebud mouth, and plump, pink cheeks, I knew she would fit into our lives perfectly.
Max: Maybe a few minutes later, the rest of the labor and delivery team came to the car with a gurney. They covered the baby in a swaddle and pulled a pink cap on her head. Then they lifted Jannelle and the baby onto the gurney, and we all went into the hospital. With a group of nurses and doctors with us to check my girls, I finally felt like I could relax.
Then we started recovering
Jannelle: Once we settled into a labor and delivery room, the nurses got straight to work cleaning me up — letting Max cut the umbilical cord, delivering my placenta, and stitching up my first-degree tear. By this point, I think the endorphins from my delivery had worn off and I started to feel pain.
Max: After I cut the cord and the nurses finished measuring, weighing, and cleaning the baby up, I got to hold her. Evelynn was so small and let out the softest cries every once in a while. But overall, she seemed content in my arms. Even the doctor said, “She likes you, Dad!”
As they finished cleaning Jannelle up, I texted our family members the picture of her holding Evelynn in our car. My mom called me about 20 minutes later, when the nurses were working on Jannelle and said, “You’re kidding, right? How did you edit that photo of Jannelle in the car?” Everyone was shocked.
Jannelle: It took about an hour before they moved us into the recovery room.
Max: Once Jannelle and the baby seemed settled, I went back down to the hospital entrance to move my car and take a look at the damage. I’m OCD about keeping my car clean and knew that whatever was waiting for me was going to be pretty grimy. When I finally got down there and opened the car door, the smell was the first thing that hit me. It was… gnarly. Thankfully, I keep some towels and car cleaner in the back for emergency messes. So I grabbed them and cleaned up the seat as best as I could. But even after sopping everything up, it was in rough shape.
Jannelle: Once Max finally came back up after dealing with the car (I felt bad about the mess, but also not), we finally got to be alone, and the baby fell asleep. That’s when I started texting all my close friends and more family members. It was such a fun story to share and ending the text with the photo of me holding Evelynn in the passenger seat of our car. Almost everyone responded back with “WHAT?!”
We finally got a chance to catch our breath
Jannelle: The next day, my mom brought our older kids to meet their new baby sister. They were thrilled. My four-year-old daughter kept saying, “She’s adorable!” and my almost two-year-old son kept pointing at the bassinet, asking, “Baby?” I loved seeing the whole crew together.
Max: After the kids’ visit, my parents took them for the night so I could stay with Jannelle and the baby. My mom also got my car detailed. Not having to worry about when I’d have time to do that was the best gift.
Jannelle: Throughout the rest of our stay, new nurses who came in would look at our chart and exclaim, "So THIS is the car baby!" It was so funny — it felt like our birth story was the hot gossip on the whole labor and delivery floor. I never grew tired of talking about it, though.
Max: Now almost a year later, I still can’t believe we pulled that off. But we did! Being there for Jannelle as she delivered our baby in the car was one of the most intense and unexpected emergencies that we faced as a couple. But we both got through it, and I’m really proud of how we stayed cool under the pressure.
Jannelle: Yes, birthing Evelynn in the car was by far one of my craziest but most empowering life experiences. And I want to remember every detail of it, forever.
Download the What to Expect app for more birth stories and tips about labor and delivery — all backed by medical experts.
Yes 
No 
