Man stops car to deliver his baby
Dad delivers baby in Spotsylvania parking lot
BY EDIE GROSS
Date published: 5/1/2007
BY EDIE GROSS
Jimmy Joe Perry, his foot on the gas, was moving swiftly up State Route 2 en route to Mary Washington Hospital.
His daughter, Layla Michelle, just happened to be moving a bit faster.
Perry, a painter and carpenter by trade, became a deliveryman on Saturday after pulling his 2000 Ford Expedition into the parking lot of the Tidewater Market and helping his daughter into the world.
"I had tears of joy," the 29-year-old Bowling Green man said yesterday. "It was so emotional."
The adventure began early Saturday morning when Perry's girlfriend, 25-year-old Becky Buccino, woke up with cramps.
The baby wasn't due until July 14, but the pregnancy had been a difficult one. She'd lost the baby's fraternal twin in December and had been on bed rest for weeks.
When she started having contractions around 6 a.m., she called her doctor and her mother, a nurse. Both told her to head for the hospital.
On the drive, Buccino's contractions drew closer and closer.
"We get halfway down Route 2, and they're getting worse and worse," she said.
"And I'm rushing faster and faster," said Perry.
"Finally, I told him, 'You need to pull over so I can get myself together,'" she said.
Perry pulled into the parking lot of the Tidewater Market on Tidewater Trail in Spotsylvania County about 6:30 a.m. and called 911.
A dispatcher--colleagues at the Spotsylvania Sheriff's Office confirmed yesterday that it was communications operator Angela Henderson--told him to move Buccino to the back seat of the Expedition and let her push.
Push she did. And her water broke all over Perry's cell phone.
"God mysteriously let the phone keep working," he said.
When she pushed again, he spotted the baby's head. And on the third effort, Layla Michelle flopped out onto a Care Bears blanket he'd thrown across the back seat.
"Layla coughed one time and started crying," said Perry. "As soon as I heard that, I thought, 'She's going to be OK.'"
He laid the baby across Buccino's chest and used a brown shoelace from his Skechers sneakers to pinch off the umbilical cord. That's when the paramedics arrived.
That's also about the time Buccino's mother, Lana Coghill, raced by, also en route to the hospital. She spotted the activity in the parking lot, and as she spun a U-turn, Perry gave her a thumbs-up.
Read more stories about Fredericksburg
Date published: 5/1/2007
Most recent reader comments:
I echo the congratulations.
(posted by
ava
, Sep. 25, 2007 2:41 pm)
May they soon marry and live a long and happy life together. Really, it's better for the children.
Great Job!!!
(posted by
pudpop2
, Sep. 25, 2007 2:41 pm)
What a wonderful story in todays world of nothing but bad news. It just brightened my whole day to read this wonderful story. Congrats to the family and may tha baby keep growing healthy and happy!
Congratulations
(posted by
lazenbyk
, Sep. 25, 2007 2:41 pm)
What a wonderful feel-good story to start the day with. Best wishes for the whole family!
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