Under pressure, Airman delivers

Published Aug. 28, 2014
By Airman 1st Class Joel Pfiester
509th Bomb Wing Public Affairs

WHITEMAN AIR FORCE BASE, Mo. -- Most baby delivery stories seem to follow the same generic, almost preset story-line. The mother beings the early stages of labor, heads to the hospital, begins her contractions, then some odd amount of hours later, baby is born.

However, for one Whiteman Airman and his family, their baby story followed a slightly different script.

On July 20, 2014, Senior Airman Paul Stewart, 509th Maintenance Squadron, low observable structural maintainer and his wife, Lindsey, were able meet their second daughter sooner than planned.

"We woke up that morning and she was already three days past her due date at that point so we knew she was coming," Stewart said. "Lindsey's labor with our first daughter, Anna, was pretty fast.

She was in labor for maybe three hours so the doctors had told us that the second one is usually quicker so we needed to be to the hospital fast."

The hospital they were going to is only a short drive from their home near Whiteman Air Force Base so they didn't have very far to go.

"By the time she had realized that she had gone into labor she was already in so much pain that she could hardly even walk," Stewart said. "It took me a few minutes to get her down stairs and out of the front door, and right as she was stepping into the truck her water broke. At that point she couldn't even move so I had to actually pick her up and put her in the truck because she couldn't do it herself."

After getting loaded into the truck, the Stewarts set out for the hospital.

"I got out onto the highway and was only on the road for a couple of minutes but we didn't have enough time," Stewart said. "I pulled over to the side of the road and as I got around to her side of the truck and started to call 911, it was already happening."

Stewart reacted on the spot and was successfully able to deliver his daughter right there on the side of the road.

At approximately 10:42 a.m., Emily Elizabeth Stewart was born weighing in at seven pounds, four ounces.

"By the time 911 could figure out what was going on and figure out what they needed to tell me Emily had already been born," Stewart said. "They didn't really have a chance to walk me through the actual delivery process but they were able to help me by telling me to clean her face up so she could breathe and all of that kind of stuff. Luckily we had two blankets in the truck so she was born on one and I used the other one to clean her up and wrap her in it to keep her warm."

Approximately five minutes later, the ambulance arrived and provided additional care to Lindsey and Emily.

"My wife is a trooper," Stewart said. "She did great and was out of the hospital the next night but Emily's oxygen saturation levels were low so she spent about 10 days in the hospital. She's doing great now."

Despite the urgent and unorthodox events that took place that morning, Stewart will always remember and cherish the day Emily was born.

"It is definitely a memorable story I'll be able to tell me daughter one day," Stewart said. "Of course the birth itself was nerve-racking but at one point Lindsey and I both started nervously laughing. We just couldn't believe what had happened and even under the circumstances we were really excited to meet our new daughter. My main take away from the whole experience was that the Lord was watching over us and it's an excellent idea to have an extra blanket in the car at all times."