Baby born on SR 347 before family tragedy Christmas Eve

[quote_box_right]Midwife Tips
Nurse Lisa Cohen has suggestions for expectant parents who live a distance from a hospital:
Tip 1: Remain calm
Tip 2: Within in the final couple of weeks, store a plastic lining and a couple of blankets in your car
Tip 3: Have a provider’s number or on-call number easily available
Tip 4: Know how to check the mother’s breathing and the baby’s breathing
Tip 5: See Tip 1[/quote_box_right]A Maricopa family experienced life and death Dec. 24 as a child was born on State Route 347 about 12 hours before her uncle died on Interstate 10.

Kyrie Eve Sanders decided to arrive a few days earlier than expected, sending her parents scrambling to get to a Mesa birthing center in the early morning. Jayden and Rachel Sanders of Homestead North were expecting their second child Dec. 29.

“It was quite a crazy Christmas Eve,” Jayden Sanders said.

Even when Rachel began experiencing contractions at 2:30 a.m., she wasn’t too worried because her 2-year-old son Sam had needed 24 hours of labor before making his appearance (also on Christmas Eve) in 2017. In fact, the contractions were so erratic, the couple weren’t sure it was actual labor.

That is, until Rachel Sanders felt the baby turn, and contractions began full force at three minutes apart around 5:15 a.m. Jayden said they started calling everyone on their list to get a babysitter for Sam. When he came home from dropping off his son, “the contractions were very strong and relentless.”

Rachel settled into the back of their SUV because she could not sit up. “I think I’m going to have a baby in the car,” she told Jayden.

He dialed an on-call number at 6:14 a.m. as he began to drive to the Willow Midwives birthing center.

The first-call midwife was occupied with another mother giving birth, so the second on-call duty shifted to Lisa Cohen. A nurse since 1998, Cohen has been a midwife since 2008 and part of the Willow Midwives since August.

“I could tell pretty soon after the initial phone call” the couple might not reach the birthing center before their baby arrived, she said. Cohen asked Jayden to let her hear Rachel. By the particular noises she was making even beyond screaming, Cohen knew labor was pretty far along.

“Jayden, are you prepared to deliver your baby in the car?” Cohen asked.

“That was a question I never thought I would be asked my entire life,” he said.

They were starting to encounter SR 347’s commuter traffic as they neared I-10. Rachel could not yet feel the baby’s head with her hand, and Cohen talked her through breathing techniques. Meanwhile, Cohen, too, had jumped in her vehicle and was on her phone with them while driving to the birthing center herself.

As the Sanders’ vehicle approached the overpass bridge to turn onto I-10, Rachel announced she could feel the baby’s head. When he asked her if she wanted him to pull over, she said, “Absolutely not.” They were only 20 minutes from the birthing center. It was about 6:30 a.m.

When he pulled into the left-turn lane, however, Rachel realized the baby was arriving immediately and told him to stop. Because he was trapped in the far left lane, Cohen advised him to turn on his hazard lights. It was 6:37 a.m.

Before he could get out of the vehicle, Rachel said, “O, my gosh! She’s out!” She caught the baby herself and was holding Kyrie in her arms when Jayden turned around.

Cohen had Rachel check the baby’s breathing and, as well as she could on the phone, checked Rachel’s vitals as Jayden drove them on to the birthing center. Cohen arrived about 10-15 minutes ahead of them and was waiting outside when they arrived. Then she was able to have both Kyrie and Rachel properly examined for breathing and heart rate.

Talking parents through a birth remotely is a rarity, she said.

“There’s always a concern when you have an unattended birth,” Cohen said. “I didn’t do anything. It was all Rachel. All I did was try to stay calm for them.”

The family story took a very sad turn at 6:43 p.m. the same day.

Rachel’s parents, Randy and Janise Wooten, drove up from St. David to greet their new grandchild that afternoon. As they were heading home, they encountered heavy traffic on the I-10 near Vail and realized there was an accident.

While the Wootens were waiting in traffic, they received a call their son Brian had been in a crash, the same accident that delayed their journey. When they reached the accident scene, they learned he had been killed instantly when his van collided with a semi-truck. The funeral is planned for this weekend.

“It’s hard to wrap our heads around,” Jayden Sanders said, describing the day as the highest of highs and lowest of lows. “We find comfort in finding that perhaps things happened for a reason.”

The Sanders family has experienced the kindness of their neighbors and the community during the past seven days. This week they had their SUV detailed by a local company, which brought them a baby blanket after hearing their story.