An Orange County couple welcomed their new daughter into the world in the most unlikely of places: the passenger seat of their SUV.
The Penningtons, of Los Alamitos, were just two traffic lights away from Hoag Hospital in Newport Beach when baby Ava came into the world.
Lorraine Pennington said the contractions came on fast and strong. Her husband, Shaun, said that within 30 minutes, he knew something was wrong. Their first child, Blake, was born after some 36 hours in labor. Their second child was coming much quicker.
Lorraine Pennington didn’t even have time to undress. She was in labor just 2 ½ hours when her second child was born in their GMC Acadia.
“I had to fish her out of my pajama bottom, she came out so fast,” she said.
But Ava wasn’t breathing. The umbilical cord was wrapped around her neck.
Trained in CPR, the Penningtons’ survival skills kicked into overdrive.
“That’s when I yelled at her, ‘Flip it upside down and hit her on the back!’” Shaun Pennington said. “Once she started crying … I felt a lot of relief.”
Ava weighed 7 pounds 9 ounces and spent three days in the hospital.
A healthy baby girl now at home with her parents, Ava’s birth certificate will read “automobile” as her place of birth. Location: Newport Boulevard.
Watch the NBC4 News at 5 p.m. for Vikki Vargas’ full report on the family’s harrowing delivery.