WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. — Carol and Jeff Kirkland thought the birth of their third child would be simple.
“All I could see was she basically had stripped off all her clothes in the car, feet on the dashboard and everything,” Jeff Kirkland said.
Instead of giving birth in a hospital bed, Carol Kirkland had her baby in the parking lot of Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center in Winston-Salem.
“Before I could even look there was about 50 nurses all outside swarming the car,” Jeff Kirkland said.
“I swear I’ve never seen so many nurses in one spot. It really looked like we were at an amusement park and we were like the center of the attractions.”
Carol Kirkland was scheduled for a C-Section Wednesday morning at 7.a.m. but started having contractions the night before.
“About midnight, I woke up and they were like 10 minutes apart at this point and I woke him up and said we need to go because I didn't know if I was going to make it to the C-section or not,” Carol Kirkland explained.
The newlyweds said they left their Greensboro home speeding down the interstate at 90 miles per hour.
“We got pulled over and the officer was like ‘alright get her there,’ you know let us go, but told us like to slowdown and be safe and he actually ended up following us here to make sure that we got here safely,” Carol Kirkland said.
Jeff Kirkland said he began to see the baby’s head as he pulled into the hospital parking lot and quickly flagged down the medical staff standing outside.
“I just screamed ‘Hey, hey my wife is having a baby in the car’, and the receptionist ran over there.”
The couple said with just one big push and the help of several nurses and doctors, their baby boy E’ziah was born at 1:26 a.m. weighing six pounds and 15 ounces.
“It’s a blessing,” Jeff Kirkland said.
“Actually, the baby you know he first came out actually not breathing so they managed to get him back breathing in a very, very, timely manner. So, we’re just blessed. It’s another day and we can’t do anything but thank God.”
The couple said they will be leaving the hospital within the next two days as doctors check to make sure both the baby and the couple are in good condition.
They said their other two boys can’t wait to meet their new baby brother.