Broward Doctor Delivers Son In Family Car
FORT LAUDERDALE (CBSMiami) -- A South Florida doctor made a very special delivery this week, his own son. The little guy couldn't wait to get inside the hospital, so his proud pop delivered the infant in the parking lot.
This labor of love took place Tuesday, Nov. 20th. Dr. Timothy Hawkes was home with his family.
"She went to bed and we got ready for the next day and we did normal stuff," explained Dr. Hawkes at a news conference on Tuesday.
But at midnight, his wife's water broke.
Dr. Hawkes, an orthopedic resident at Broward Health Medical Center, quickly got his wife Katelin down to the family car as he carried their sleeping children.
"I knew it's not normal for a baby to be born in the car and I was trying to keep him in until we got to the hospital," said Katelin Hawkes.
The family began the drive from their home in Davie to Broward Health Medical Center via I-595. With one hand on the wheel and the other hand on his wife, Dr. Hawkes realized that the baby wouldn't wait and was crowning.
Dr. Hawkes called in an OB alert to the hospital, while coaching his wife. But as he pulled into the Emergency Department parking lot, Dr. Hawkes, who had completed an OB/GYN rotation two years earlier, knew they weren't going to make it through the hospital doors.
"It was a tense situation. We drove and I was holding a little back pressure on the baby while we were going and right as we pulled into the ER parking lot I could feel the face start to emerge and I knew that at that point that the baby was coming," he recalled.
There, in the family car, with his 5- and 3-year-old children encouraging mom, Dr. Hawkes delivered his third son, Liam.
"In that situation there is only one option, deliver the baby or let the baby fall on the ground," joked Dr. Hawkes.
"If anyone had to be in the car with me at that point, I'm glad it was Tim," said Katelin. "I felt fine. I wasn't worried about that aspect but was more worried that I had two other children in the back seat," said Katelin.
