Baby on Board

By Chad Austin, News Services

Talk about life in the fast lane. That's a fitting description of how Kiley Grace Pond made her way into the world.

The 7-pound, 4-ounce baby girl was born at 1:15 Saturday morning in the passenger seat of her parents' minivan somewhere near U.S. Highway 264 and I-540 in Wake County as her dad raced to the hospital at 80 mph. 

Heather Pond and her husband Dave, the writer for NC State's Web communication team, had just left their home in Clayton for WakeMed in Raleigh around 1 a.m. last Saturday when they realized their second daughter wasn't planning to wait for them to reach the hospital. 

Kiley Grace Pond made a fast entrance into the world early Saturday morning.

"We knew there was no way that we were going to make it," Dave said. "As soon as we left our neighborhood, Heather said, 'I have this urge to push.' I was trying to calm her down and said, 'Don't push. Do whatever you have to do.'"

But Heather had to push. And with no place to pull the car over, Dave kept driving while his wife kept pushing. A few minutes later, out came Kiley.

"She was born while we were going about 80 mph," Dave says. "When Kiley came out, Heather picked her up with her left hand, cradled her to her chest and we just kept on going down the road. It was like she had delivered 100 babies before, it looked so natural to her."

Dave managed to dial 9-1-1 from his cell phone during his wife's quick labor, and he steered his Honda Odyssey into the parking lot of a nearby fire station in Knightdale, horn blaring and lights flashing.

"I jumped out and exclaimed, 'Guys, we just had a baby in the car,'" Dave says.

The firefighters assisted Heather and Kiley until an ambulance arrived a short while later.

"One of the rescue workers took one look at Kiley and said she was doing fine," Dave says. "That was a big relief. When we got to the hospital, all they did was clean Kiley up a bit, took care of Heather and then brought us to our room."

Heather's experience was much different than her first pregnancy, during which she spent 25 hours in labor giving birth to the Ponds' first daughter, Mallory.

"I certainly didn't want to have the baby in the car, but I did want to try to have a natural labor," Heather says. "I definitely got one this time."

And Dave is not only a proud papa, he's also a proud husband.

"Heather is the only woman I know who's ever delivered her own baby," Dave says. "There were so many things that could have gone wrong, but it was a perfect birth. God was definitely watching over us. Kiley came out safe and healthy, and Heather is doing well.

"I just hope the hospital doesn't try to charge us for the delivery since Heather did all the work," he said with a laugh.