As they prepared to become a family of five, Jennifer and Drew McDonald mapped out a birthing plan.
They thought through worst-case scenarios. Still, nothing could’ve fully prepared them for how baby Valerie came into the world Thursday evening.
“I had just woken up from a very quick nap and I had started having contractions,” said Jennifer McDonald. “I gave him the phone call that, hey, it’s time to come home from work. I think this is real. And sure enough, it was just picking up really quickly.”
“When I got home I realized, ok we need to get in the truck now,” said Drew McDonald.
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The couple left their Wylie home bound for Medical City Plano. They’d made it just a few minutes to the intersection of Parker Road and North Murphy Road when time ran out.
“Next thing I know, Jennifer’s screaming at me, she’s like, ‘This baby’s coming.’ Her water breaks. I look over and I see the baby’s head breaching. I’m calling 911, and we’re in bumper-to-bumper traffic and luckily I’m able to get over on the side of the road in the dirt,” said Drew.
“I just kind of positioned myself and I was like, this is it. She’s coming, and then she was basically delivered on her own. And I was like ok, make sure she’s breathing, and she was. She was good,” said Jennifer.
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Within minutes an ambulance and team of EMTs arrived from Wylie Fire Station 4.
“We got a call for an OB emergency just up the street in Parker,” said Joshua Jones.
Jones said they checked out both mom and baby and loaded them into an ambulance to get them to the hospital quickly.
“This one was pretty straightforward. Baby was doing well, and continued to do well all the way to the hospital. Made it pretty nice and easy for us,” said Jones.
After all, he said, Jennifer had already done all the work.
She credited a nudge she felt during pregnancy to prepare for the unexpected. She even brought towels on their trip to the hospital.
Still, the McDonalds say they were so grateful when the professionals arrived that they welcomed them into the hospital to take a photo with Valerie.
Now as they prepare for their first Christmas with baby girl, the couple said instead of dwelling on what could’ve gone wrong, they’re focusing on the miracles.
That includes the fact that Valerie came into the world right next to Victory Church, a very fitting name.
“To know that Valerie, and the name comes from Valor, which is courage and honor and then there’s victory on top of that, which is awesome and we had a lot of prayer go into this pregnancy. So my mind didn’t go to worst-case scenario. My mind went to wow, what a story and what a story around Christmas where the ultimate story for us is Christ being born,” said Drew.
