Kori Ellis
04-01-2005, 04:02 PM
Posted on Thu, Mar. 31, 2005
Woman gives birth at gas station, drives seven miles to hospital
JAMES HANNAH
Associated Press
KETTERING, Ohio - Debbie Coleman is a do-it-yourself mom.
The 34-year-old woman delivered her own baby while parked at a filling station and then drove herself, the child and her two sleeping daughters to the hospital on a seven-mile adventure.
Along the way, she was stopped by a group of confused police officers who were not sure what was happening. But Coleman's circumstances spoke for themselves, and she and the baby arrived safely.
Coleman wasn't due until April 14. So she thought it was safe to leave her house in the Dayton suburb of Trotwood on Tuesday and go to a nearby filling station to pick up some soft drinks. Her 3- and 4-year-old daughters wanted to come, so they piled into Coleman's silver van.
As Coleman arrived at the filling station, her water broke and she began having contractions. Station co-owner Lloyd Goff rushed out and asked Coleman if she needed any help.
"All of a sudden she moaned kind of loud and leaned back. At that point, her child's head was out," he said.
Goff called 911.
"By the time I got off the phone with them, she moaned one more time, put her leg over the steering wheel, and she pushed the baby out into her hands," Goff said. "She said 'I have to go,' and away she went."
Coleman, who had delivered her two daughters at home by herself when they came early, said she considered driving home without even going to the hospital. But she knew her husband, Richard, would be angry.
So she decided to go to the hospital, but didn't call an ambulance because she didn't think it was necessary and thought it would be too expensive.
"That would have been another bill we couldn't afford," she said.
Coleman cleared the airway of her newborn son, made sure he was breathing and took off for the seven-mile trip to Kettering Memorial Hospital.
A customer at the filling station tried to give police a heads-up about Coleman's situation, but a mix-up involving the license plate number had them thinking the van was stolen, according to the Dayton Daily News. Police quickly learned it was not, but then they got erroneous reports that a driver was thought to be trying to throw a baby from the van, the newspaper said.
As she got close to the hospital, Coleman noticed several cruisers following her. She said that when she got within a few hundred yards of the hospital, the officers cut her off, drew their guns and ordered her out of the van with her hands up.
"I said, 'I just had a baby,'" she said.
Coleman said the officers took one look and then escorted her to the hospital.
She was discharged from the hospital Wednesday. Her 6-pound, 8-ounce son, Richard Lee Coleman Jr., was listed in stable condition there.
Coleman said she doesn't think what she did was anything special.
"I just had to do what I had to do," she said. "I don't think it's headline news."
Woman gives birth at gas station, drives seven miles to hospital
JAMES HANNAH
Associated Press
KETTERING, Ohio - Debbie Coleman is a do-it-yourself mom.
The 34-year-old woman delivered her own baby while parked at a filling station and then drove herself, the child and her two sleeping daughters to the hospital on a seven-mile adventure.
Along the way, she was stopped by a group of confused police officers who were not sure what was happening. But Coleman's circumstances spoke for themselves, and she and the baby arrived safely.
Coleman wasn't due until April 14. So she thought it was safe to leave her house in the Dayton suburb of Trotwood on Tuesday and go to a nearby filling station to pick up some soft drinks. Her 3- and 4-year-old daughters wanted to come, so they piled into Coleman's silver van.
As Coleman arrived at the filling station, her water broke and she began having contractions. Station co-owner Lloyd Goff rushed out and asked Coleman if she needed any help.
"All of a sudden she moaned kind of loud and leaned back. At that point, her child's head was out," he said.
Goff called 911.
"By the time I got off the phone with them, she moaned one more time, put her leg over the steering wheel, and she pushed the baby out into her hands," Goff said. "She said 'I have to go,' and away she went."
Coleman, who had delivered her two daughters at home by herself when they came early, said she considered driving home without even going to the hospital. But she knew her husband, Richard, would be angry.
So she decided to go to the hospital, but didn't call an ambulance because she didn't think it was necessary and thought it would be too expensive.
"That would have been another bill we couldn't afford," she said.
Coleman cleared the airway of her newborn son, made sure he was breathing and took off for the seven-mile trip to Kettering Memorial Hospital.
A customer at the filling station tried to give police a heads-up about Coleman's situation, but a mix-up involving the license plate number had them thinking the van was stolen, according to the Dayton Daily News. Police quickly learned it was not, but then they got erroneous reports that a driver was thought to be trying to throw a baby from the van, the newspaper said.
As she got close to the hospital, Coleman noticed several cruisers following her. She said that when she got within a few hundred yards of the hospital, the officers cut her off, drew their guns and ordered her out of the van with her hands up.
"I said, 'I just had a baby,'" she said.
Coleman said the officers took one look and then escorted her to the hospital.
She was discharged from the hospital Wednesday. Her 6-pound, 8-ounce son, Richard Lee Coleman Jr., was listed in stable condition there.
Coleman said she doesn't think what she did was anything special.
"I just had to do what I had to do," she said. "I don't think it's headline news."