Brittany Kennedy wasn’t due to have her baby until the end of January, but when her labor pains started on Jan. 8, she — along with her soldier husband and their four children — headed to the nearby hospital in Watertown, New York.
But when she got to the hospital, she was sent home because she wasn’t dilated enough, according to Syracuse.com. So the family loaded up into their car and started to head home.
As they drove, the pain intensified, and she told her husband, Sgt. Preston Kennedy, that she felt the urge to push.
“I told her no — don’t push, just breathe — until we can at least get home,″ Preston Kennedy said, according to Syracuse.com. “I was driving, and then all of a sudden I heard a pop, and her water broke. We made it to the Fort Drum gates, and I pulled over and stopped the car.”
Once there, he yelled for a soldier at the gate to call an ambulance. He says he acted instinctively, propping one of her legs up on the dashboard radio and the other on the car door.
“I’ve been in the delivery room for our four other children,” he told Syracuse.com. “And when you are in the military, you learn to handle stressful situations calmly and with poise. So that really helped me.”
Bella was born weighing 6 pounds, 13 ounces.
“I still can hardly believe it,′ Brittany Kennedy told Syracuse.com. “I had a baby inside a car! And I’m so proud of my husband — the first time we had a child he nearly passed out in the delivery room.”
