Emma and Diego Contreras Were Racing to Medical City Plano When Their Third Baby Arrived in the Parking Lot, Delivered by His Dad
Diego Contreras of Plano, Texas, squatted in front of his wife, Emma, in the parking lot of Medical City Plano on the morning of Oct. 11 and caught their third child as he slipped out. The baby, named Beni, was not due for another week, CBS News Texas reported. Mother, baby and the couple’s two older sons are all doing fine, the station said.
A walk for what might have been early contractions turned into a labor too fast to reach the delivery room
According to CBS News Texas, the Contrerases had planned for Diego to take a bigger part in the birth of their third child. On the morning of Oct. 11, Emma began having what she thought might be contractions and went for a walk. Labor then moved quickly.
The couple headed for Medical City Plano. Emma tried to slow down the urge to push until they reached the hospital, CBS reported, but the delivery came on fast.
NBC 5 Dallas-Fort Worth, which reported the family’s story on Oct. 14, adds detail about the drive. The couple was about five minutes from the hospital when traffic stopped them at a red light, the station reported. “It just happened so fast, so intensely,” Emma told NBC 5.
The two accounts describe the same morning from slightly different angles, and neither gives an exact time of birth or says how long the labor lasted.
Diego Contreras alerted the emergency room, went back to the car and caught baby Beni himself, with staff rushing out right after
Per CBS, Diego alerted emergency room staff and returned to the car, where he delivered the baby in the parking lot. Diego said he saw the baby’s head, squatted in front of him, and the baby slipped out.
NBC 5 describes the sequence a little differently. Diego parked near the emergency room and went in for a wheelchair, but Beni arrived first, the station reported. Emma gave birth standing up and Diego caught the baby, and medical staff then rushed out to help.
Afterward, CBS reported, Diego said he was glad that “at least for this one” he contributed. Emma’s response, as CBS tells it, was a reminder to be careful what one wishes for, and she said she is proud of him.
Emma and Beni are doing well, NBC 5 reported, which fits CBS’s account that everyone is fine. Neither outlet gives the baby’s weight, and neither names the older boys.
Other Parent Diaries stories have followed births that outran the plan, including Daniel Peaceman’s third son, who arrived in the left lane of the Mass Pike, and Rosa Jeong’s baby, who came before the doctor could reach the room.
Why a third baby can arrive faster than expected, and what doctors and midwives say families should know about births before the hospital
Doctors have a name for labor this fast, precipitous labor. Because neither outlet says how long Emma’s labor lasted, it is unclear whether it met the formal definition, but the medical background applies to quick births in general. The Cleveland Clinic defines it as labor in which the baby is born within three hours of regular contractions starting, though some providers use a limit of under five hours.
The same page lists a previous birth as a risk factor, along with having had a precipitous labor before, a smaller-than-average baby, high blood pressure, labor induced with misoprostol, an exceptionally strong, efficient uterus, and a soft, flexible birth canal. The Cleveland Clinic does not list a third baby specifically, and it says nothing about the Contreras family’s own medical history.
The Mayo Clinic says early labor “is often shorter for people who have had a baby before,” while active labor and pushing may take longer for first-time birthers. Mayo adds that most people do not need to go to the hospital until contractions start to get more intense and happen more often, and it advises asking a health care professional when to leave. It also says to go once active labor begins.
A fast birth outside a delivery room brings its own risks. The Cleveland Clinic lists heavy bleeding or postpartum hemorrhage, a higher risk of vaginal tears, a retained placenta, delivery in an unsterile area such as a car, and missing antibiotics for Group B strep or other infections for the mother. For the baby, it lists inhaling meconium or amniotic fluid, infection, and injury from descending the birth canal too quickly.
The Cleveland Clinic recommends packing emergency supplies several weeks before the due date, including hand sanitizer, towels, blankets, diapers and extra clothes.
For a baby who arrives before help does, the American College of Nurse-Midwives published a basic guide, “Giving Birth ‘In Place,'” written by Deanne Williams, a certified nurse-midwife, in the Journal of Midwifery & Women’s Health in 2004. It says to call the emergency number in the community and ask for help, and to place the baby skin to skin on the mother’s chest and abdomen with towels over both. If the baby is not crying, it says to rub the baby’s back firmly.
The guide adds that wet towels should be swapped for dry ones, with a blanket over mother and baby and a hat on the baby. It says not to rush to cut the cord and to keep the baby close to the mother so the cord is not pulled tight. The guide stresses contacting a trained health care professional whenever possible.
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This article was produced with AI assistance and edited for accuracy against the sources linked above.
Image: Basile Morin – CC BY-SA 4.0/Wikimedia Commons (generic newborn image, not the Contreras family)
