A Williams Lake woman recently gave birth in her SUV just minutes away from Cariboo Memorial Hospital, something she said she joked about during her pregnancy but never imagined would happen.
Hana Hein said when her son Torin was born after a short labour two and a half years ago, her doctor told her she might not make it to the hospital next time.
“We had a good laugh about it and kind of joked about it through my prenatal care and sure enough,” she told the Tribune.
She began having early labour symptoms and started making preparations around 3 p.m. on Monday, Jan. 25.
“I didn’t experience early labour symptoms with my first baby so I wasn’t really sure, but then around 6:50 p.m. my water broke.”
By 7 p.m. she was having full contractions 30 seconds to a minute apart.
Her husband Greg Hein, who is a dentist in Williams Lake, ran Torin over to a nearby friend’s house and 10 minutes later Hana said she knew it was time to go to the hospital.
“We headed to the hospital and as we were driving down our street I was begging my husband to pull over saying the baby was coming, but he didn’t believe me,” she recalled, chuckling.
Within five minutes they arrived at the Dog Creek Road turnoff at Highway 20 and she told him it was ‘really happening,’ and he needed to pull over and call an ambulance.
“Sure enough, I was pushing the baby out, Greg came around to the other side, caught the baby and five minutes later the ambulance arrived.”
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BC Emergency Health Services transferred mom and baby, who weighed seven pounds and 13 ounces, into the ambulance all bundled up.
Greg followed in the SUV.
Hana said the paramedics cut the umbilical cord and she did not even know if it was a boy or girl until she got to the hospital.
“I was holding him and he was all wrapped up and they kept asking if I wanted to see, but I couldn’t even move. Obviously that’s a lot of adrenaline running through your body when you go and have a baby in 30 minutes.”
The doctors and nurses greeted them when they arrived at the hospital and whisked them up to the maternity ward where Hanna delivered the placenta.
Within an hour she had showered and was ready to go home, although she and baby Jack stayed the night and went home the next morning.
Torin loves his new brother and immediately started sharing toys the moment he arrived home.
Community members have dropped food off since Jack was born, Hana said.
“We have had so much support even though we cannot be physically in the same room as our friends, but we’re just really grateful to be in such a loving community.”
Hana is a registered massage therapist and said she and Greg met through mutual friends while vacationing in Whistler while he was still in school. They’ve lived together in Williams Lake for five years now.
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