Dad delivers baby in hospital parking lot
By Robert Cloud
When Laura Kirchman first started having contractions at 3:30 a.m. Tuesday, July 21, she thought she had plenty of time to make it to the hospital.
Laura had delivered three other babies, all of whom were born after her due date.
This baby had been due on Monday, so she did not expect to deliver the baby in the hospital’s parking lot.
“I didn’t think this was possible,” Laura said.
By the time she and her husband Casey left their home in Manawa for ThedaCare Medical Center-Waupaca at 4 a.m. they felt a sense of urgency.
“We literally did 85 or 90 mph on that trip,” recalled Casey, noting that he suggested stopping several times along the way but Laura said to keep driving.
“A minute either way and we wouldn’t have been in that parking lot,” Casey said.
By the time the couple made it to the hopsital’s parking lot at approximately 4:15 a.m., the baby was already making its way into the world.
“It was incredible,” Laura said. “When we got into the parking lot, Casey got out and was going to go inside and get a wheelchair. I said no.”
Laura said Casey “got to my side just in time to catcher her around 4:20 a.m.”
“There was nobody out there except for us three,” Casey said.
Casey then went inside the hospital and staff from the Emergency Room came out to assist.
Casey is a registered nurse who currently works for Community Care. His own daughter was the first baby he ever delivered.
“In school I struggled the most with OB,” Casey said. “It wasn’t my point of interest, so it’s ironic.”
When asked how she felt during the experience, Laura said, “I was pretty calm.”
The baby’s name is Alice Kirchman and she weighed 7 pounds 4 ounces when she was born.