A newly-released 911 call revealed the moments when a mother gave birth on an Irvine sidewalk early Sunday morning.
Robert and Rachel Grindstaff were on the way to the birthing clinic when their baby boy came "roaring into the world" at 2:30 a.m. on Rockwood Drive, Robert Grindstaff, the father, said.
"This little guy simply could not wait," said Robert Grindstaff in an email.
Rachel said she knew what to expect -- this was baby No. 5, and contractions were 10 minutes apart.
As she made her way to the car, pain stopped her short. She only made it to the sidewalk.
"She's having a baby and she's not going to make it," Robert told the 911 operator.
A friend laid down a blanket, and Rachel beared down.
U.S. & World
"I said he's coming now. I can feel him coming," Rachel said.
Seconds later, baby Benjamin Paul, weighing 8 pounds, 3 ounces and measuring 20 inches long was born.
But the harrowing journey wasn't over yet.
Robert said the baby boy came out with the amniotic sac intact and the umbilical cord wrapped around his neck twice.
"The baby wasn't breathing initially," Steve Concialdi of the Orange County Fire Authority said. "[They had to] suction momentarily and they the baby stared crying, which is a great sound."
All of baby Benjamin's siblings were born at hospitals, but despite being the youngest in the family, he now has a story that none of the others can top.
"A lot of things worked out that were miraculous," Grindstaff said.
It was their friend, who is also a doula, Mary McDonald, who helped deliver the baby before first responders arrived to transport the family to The Women's Hospital at Saddleback Memorial in Laguna Hills, according to Robert Grindstaff.
"While I had mom resting on my lap, Mary literally caught [the baby] and unwound the cord carefully," Robert Grindstaff said.
The mother and baby are doing well, according to the father.
This story had originally been posted only in text form on NBCLA.com.
