After several days of contractions without giving birth, Jesica feared the birth could happen very suddenly – and she was right.
Jesica said: “Oh that intuition is real, if only I had given some credit to that voice in the back of my head that night!
Even though she started having contractions on July 19, 2017, they didn’t really become much worse, so she labored at home, putting up with them until they became more regular and painful, in the early hours of July 24, when her water burst.
Feeling panicked that she wouldn’t make it to the hospital on time for Max’s birth, Jesica didn’t even have time to put her shoes on and was rushed to the hospital by her calm husband Travis, and texted her birth photographer, Tammy Karin.
After laboring intensely in the passenger seat, Jes and Travis finally made it to the local hospital, where they ran into Tammy. As they arrived at their destination, the mum-of-six felt the baby coming.
She said to Travis: “I told him Baby was almost there. I also said I couldn’t get out, I felt as if Baby was ready to emerge.
“That feeling made it nearly impossible to move.”
In between contractions, Travis assisted Jesica in making her way to the hospital, and Tammy came to record the miraculous birth. But as soon as she was inside, Jessica started giving delivery in the ER hallway.
“I could feel my body pushing the baby’s head out,” Jes wrote in a post on Tammy’s blog.
“I reached down and could feel his head crowning with my hand. I looked at my husband and said, ‘Travis, catch him!’ Without any hesitation he did just that as I felt my body involuntarily pushing his head the rest of the way out.
“Tammy then started taking pictures right away! The nurses then sped down the hallway. By the time they found us and assisted me in lying down, my body had already started pushing once more.”
Nurses quickly arrived to help the unconventional birth, helping Jesica become comfortable on the floor.
She said: “With one more push as instructed by the nurse, and the only intentional push I gave, I felt the rest of his body come out.
“He arrived on the floor just inside the entrance of the emergency room at 3:38 am.
“Less than 25 minutes from the time my water broke at home, and only a few moments after we stepped inside the hospital.”
Jesica says that despite being “incredibly bruised” following the speedy birth, Max is doing fine.
Looking back on that day, Jes recalls her husband’s demeanor throughout the entire ordeal. “She could see on her husband’s face that he was calm and happy,” Tammy said.
“She felt so close to him in that moment and trusted him with her and their baby’s life. She loves looking at the pictures and seeing his smile as he instinctively reached in to support her during the delivery.”
The family have released heart-warming images showing the newborn with his five sisters.
Jesica said: “It was my craziest birth, but also, the most perfect.
“It was not at all what I had planned, but it ended without any intervention, with a healthy baby, and amazing support people by our sides.
“It was beautiful and I’ll forever love every memory of it.”
See Max’s whirlwind entrance into the world in the stunning photos Tammy was able to capture of his unique birth.
