Nicole Burns, a mother of three in Rockland County, New York, felt that something was off as soon as they got on Route 59. Her husband Nick was driving to the hospital when she realized they would not make it in time.
They did not make it. By the time they were able to pull over, Nicole already had her son Austin in her hands, right there in the passenger seat. “My instincts just kicked in”, she later said. The couple met an ambulance at a nearby Dunkin’, where paramedics cut the umbilical cord before taking them to Nyack Hospital.
Today Austin is already home, adored by his two older siblings. And it is not an isolated case: according to Boston University, 12% of births outside a hospital in the U.S. happen this way, unplanned, when the body decides it is time.
