Mom Delivers Miracle Baby Hours After Escaping Hurricane Florence
There’s nothing quite like being nine months pregnant and having to evacuate your home because of an impending natural disaster, but a young mom from North Carolina did just that.
Rachel English weathered the storm of giving birth in a unique set of circumstances with incredible strength and grit.
English was planning to deliver her baby in North Carolina but had to evacuate because Hurricane Florence threatened to unleash her wrath near English’s home, WHTM-TV reported.
Weighing out the options, English and her husband Levi English left their home just one day before their baby was due.
The couple drove eight hours north, planning to stay with family in Pennsylvania. But just hours after arriving in Wynnewood, English went into labor.
Hurricane Baby Born At Montgomery County Hospital After North Carolina Family Flees Florence https://t.co/qIRdHFXmEF
— cwphilly (@cwphilly) September 14, 2018
Ironically, English welcomed her daughter, Matilda, in the same hospital she was born in nearly three decades ago.
“It was really scary knowing we were expecting a baby really any minute and potentially unable to get to the hospital or left without electricity for days and days with a newborn,” English told CBS Philly.
While the car ride must have been uncomfortable and somewhat stressful, English is glad she and her family chose to evacuate.
“We’re just really glad we got out of there,” she said.
While Rachel and Levi haven’t been able to return home yet, the word from their neighbors is that their house appears to be OK.
Over 4,000 homes in New Bern, North Carolina, where English lives, have been damaged by floodwaters, according to ABC News.
English is looking forward to the day she can tell Matilda all about her hurricane birth.
“Definitely a story to tell her when she grows up,” English said. “We were trying to think of with the nurses if there was a fun hurricane nickname we could give her. We haven’t come up with one yet.”
The baby’s name bears no resemblance to the tropical storm — rather, Matilda Jean is named after family.
So far, baby Matilda looks like her father, English added.
Congratulations to this sweet family, who has already learned a parenting staple: children have a way of making us parents learn to give up control and just go with the flow.
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