It was a dramatic delivery with a happy ending for one North Dallas family.
On Monday, Ronnie and Audra Hooper welcomed baby Lydia at Texas Health Plano, but the birth didn’t happen inside of the hospital.
Volunteer Al West recalled manning the emergency room door area when Ronnie Hooper came running in frantically.
“This was not normal,” said West, who said he sees expecting parents almost every day. “He came in and said, 'My wife is having a baby' -- and then she said, 'She’s having it now!'”
West had co-workers call for a triage nurse.
Registered nurse Nancy Nalley was the first to the family’s sport utility vehicle, pulled just outside the emergency room doors.
Audra Hooper said she had started experiencing mild labor pains earlier that morning.
Local
The latest news from around North Texas.
When she called her doctor just after the opening of business at 9 a.m., she was told to head into labor and delivery.
But as Nalley saw firsthand, baby Lydia was on her own schedule. She was born at 9:27 a.m.
“I told her, 'We were going to have this baby in the car,'” Nalley said.
Nalley helped Hooper deliver, and soon, paramedic tech Phillip Hazelip added his hands to the effort.
It’s the first episode of “baby born in car” for all parties involved.
“I think I looked at [my husband] and said, 'OK, I think I can do anything now''” said Audra Hooper.
Lydia was released to go home with her family, including big brother Zayne, who was in the back seat of the SUV until the family pulled into the hospital lot on Monday.
Ronnie Hooper said he not only gained a daughter, but another level of respect for his wife.
“She’s definitely my hero, for sure,” he said.
