A Calabasas family is getting used to raising a baby girl after the mom was forced to give birth to her at the family’s front porch.
Natasha Downing was on her way to a birthing center where she was supposed to have her baby on Aug. 22, but the little girl had different plans.
“I know the baby's coming. I can feel my body start to push her out,” the mom recalled, saying her contractions became more frequent, and her pain became too severe when she stepped out of the house with her suitcase and a crying toddler in tow.
“As soon as we're outside, my water breaks, and Tommy looks between my legs and he goes, ‘The baby's head is halfway out,’” the mom described.
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Tom Downing, her husband, helped her squat down to the concrete floor and grabbed blankets and towels while calling their midwife urgently.
“She just came right into my arms,” the father recalled the moment the new baby, Lilybella, arrived.
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But the parents had a moment of panic when the infant came out.
“We didn't know most babies are born blue, and that it takes a minute for them to cry,” Natasha Downing said.
After rubbing the baby’s back for about a minute, she finally cried. And so did the dad.
“It was just the most beautiful thing,” he recalled.
When the midwife arrived and weighed the baby, the family learned the little girl was 10 pounds.
In the midst of unexpected chaos, the mom stayed calm, Tom Downing said.
“She knew exactly what was going on. She knew exactly what to do with her body,” the husband and dad said. “Delivering your own child and seeing this energy wash over her – that was just so powerful. I'll never look at her the same again. It was amazing.”
