The hospital was only a 20-minute drive from their home, but dad Jason Brunk knew they weren't going to make it.
A Wisconsin couple welcomed their baby girl in the middle of a parking lot when it became clear they wouldn’t make it to the hospital in time to deliver her.
Baby Layla Brunk was born seamlessly on a scarf her dad, Jason Brunk, found in the back of their car as they were parked in front of the Country Inn & Suites in Brookfield, situated at the halfway point between their home and the hospital.
“I didn’t have to pull, I didn’t do anything. She just popped out into my scarf,” Jason told InsideEdition.com. “I’m staring at her with a blank stare because I can’t believe this just happened.”
He explained it all started three nights ago, when, like any other night, his wife, Mayda Cardona-Brunk, had sporadic contractions. Suddenly, Mayda called down to her husband that she had experienced a few more serious contractions and they had to get to the hospital.
But, it took them a little time to get moving.
“My son Mason has been waiting for this moment for months,” Jason explained. “I’m trying to wake him and he would not get up. When he finally got up, he threw a tantrum. He did not want to go, we couldn’t believe it.”
They decided to let their son stay sleeping, and invited his grandmother over to watch him.
When they finally got into the car and began driving toward the hospital, Jason said his wife’s water broke within the first few blocks.
“I was panicking because there’s water everywhere, and I’m going 80 miles an hour down one of the streets here, we’re still 15 minutes away from the hospital, and I’m like, ‘I’m going to call 911,’” he recalled.
When the dispatcher picked up, he advised them to pull over into the nearest parking lot.
“She’s pretty much contracting like every 30 seconds now, screaming,” Jason said. “My wife, at the top of her lungs, goes, ‘I can feel her coming out,’ and I’m like, ‘No, no, push it back.’”
But he prepared to deliver using a big scarf in the back of their car and, with the help of the dispatcher successfully helped birth his own daughter.
“I’m staring at my baby girl, she’s crying,” Jason said. “I’m so happy, the first person my daughter saw was me, not a doctor, not a nurse in the hospital, she’s looking right at me. It was so damn beautiful.”
Paramedics arrived shortly after and brought the new family to the Aurora West Allis Medical Center.
“This was a situation where everything went perfectly for mom and dad,” the hospital’s Dr. Robert Southwick told InsideEdition.com. “Paramedics brought in mom, a healthy screaming baby and overwhelmed but giddy dad.”
Southwick treated the family and ran routine tests on baby Layla when they finally arrived at the hospital.
“When people deliver outside the hospital, there’s not too much control in the delivery so moms can have more trauma,” he explained. “She really did wonderfully and her husband did a good job helping control the delivery. Really, our job was just to enjoy the moment.”
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