Kelly Rowley’s Water Broke in a Memphis AT&T Store Hours After Her Doctor Said Baby Selah Wasn’t Quite Ready

Kelly Rowley’s OB-GYN had said, just hours earlier, that her baby wasn’t quite ready. Then, on Sept. 29, Kelly’s water broke in a Memphis AT&T store while she and her husband, Daniel, were setting up a new iPhone. Her daughter, Selah, was born the following morning, according to a People story shared on Yahoo on Nov. 6.

The couple’s due date was less than a week away. An AT&T sales representative, Priscila Loya, 26, stayed with Kelly until paramedics arrived.

A Phone Setup That Turned Into Labor

Kelly and Daniel, a 12-year Navy veteran, had stopped at a local AT&T store to get a new iPhone working. As Kelly got up to leave, her water broke. She described a gush of water that just kept coming and coming.

It happened hours after her doctor’s visit, when the OB-GYN had told her the baby was not quite ready, People reported.

How the Store Employee Helped

Loya moved Kelly to a more private area of the store and stayed with her while Daniel called 911. An ambulance arrived about 15 minutes later, and paramedics prepared Kelly for the hospital.

Selah arrived the next morning. Daniel sent Loya photos of the newborn, and the Rowleys later went back to the store to introduce Selah in person. They call Loya “Auntie Priscila.”

What Happens When the Water Breaks

Water breaking can be a gush or a slow trickle. The Office on Women’s Health lists it among the signs of labor and says to note the time and any color or odor, and to call a doctor or midwife, even weeks before the due date. Labor often begins soon after, according to its labor and birth guide. If it does not, a doctor may induce labor because the risk of infection rises once the water has broken.

MedlinePlus, the National Library of Medicine’s health site, says most women go into labor on their own within 24 hours of the membranes rupturing. Its page on premature rupture of membranes says anyone who thinks their membranes have ruptured should contact a health care provider right away to be evaluated. After 37 weeks, it says, the baby is ready to be born, and waiting raises the risk of infection, so a provider may wait briefly for labor or induce it.

The same page says slow leaks can be mistaken for urine, and that amniotic fluid is usually colorless with a sweeter smell. If the water breaks before 37 weeks, it calls the situation more serious for mother and baby, and says a baby born early will usually go to a neonatal unit.

When to Head to the Hospital

Providers differ on when they want a patient to come in, according to the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development. Its labor and delivery fact sheet says to contact a provider if contractions come regularly about every 5 to 10 minutes for an hour, and that contractions before 37 weeks may signal preterm labor.

The institute also says early labor can last up to about 20 hours, especially for a first birth, and that the pushing stage lasts from about 20 minutes to several hours. The Office on Women’s Health adds that true labor contractions become more regular and frequent over time, while practice contractions are irregular and often fade with a change in activity.

In the Rowleys’ case, Selah was born the morning after Kelly’s water broke. The institute’s page on labor and delivery complications notes that if labor does not begin within about 24 hours at or near term, labor is often induced, and that infection is a major concern when labor does not start on its own. It adds that each pregnancy and delivery is different.

For Kelly, a visit meant for a new phone ended with a baby the next morning and a new family nickname for the woman who stayed.

Get stories like this by email. Sign up for The Parent Diaries Letter.

This article was produced with AI assistance and edited for accuracy against the sources linked above.

Image: Mangocove – CC BY-SA 4.0/Wikimedia Commons