A mother today has a variety of alternatives for giving birth, including natural birth, C-section, giving birth at home or in the hospital, and even giving birth underwater. But what if, despite your choices, things don’t turn out as you had hoped? Paula D’Amore is aware of the solution because her birth ended up being quite the experience. As she had planned, the woman started making the required preparations in the comfort of her home, but eventually she realized she needed to go to the hospital.
Paula’s experience was documented by photographer Paulina Splechta who was present. She then drove away from the family residence in order to meet them at the hospital. He was shocked to see the pair still in the car rather than rushing to the hospital. As he got closer, he noticed the father cradling the newborn baby’s head and the wife giving delivery in the jeep. And this is all happening in the hospital’s parking lot!
What most of us can imagine is that at that time, there was a state of panic. But according to the photographer who captured these moments frame by frame, the parents cooperated perfectly with the midwife and hospital staff who came to help.
Paula’s case, however, is different for another reason: it was her second normal birth after a ᴄᴀᴇsᴀʀᴇᴀɴ sᴇᴄᴛɪᴏɴ, with which she gave birth to her first child – something that is not common.
The conclusions from this… experience are two. The first is that the saying “When you make plans, God laughs” is probably true and the second is that when you have people you trust and love by your side, everything will work out – even if nothing goes as you expect…
Watch Paula’s birth from start to finish.
D’Amore told her doula Lindsay Ripley that she wanted to spend as much time as possible at home before the birth. Splechta was on-hand to capture those early moments of the birth.
D’Amore took a bath to ease her ᴄᴏɴᴛʀᴀᴄᴛɪᴏɴs, surrounded by birthing affirmations that she had placed on the walls.
Knowing that the birth would be soon, D’Amore headed out. But the birth happened faster than she had expected.
The images, captured by photographer Paulina Splechta, show mom Paula D’Amore giving birth in her SUV in the parking lot of Boca Raton Regional Hospital on Friday.
D’Amore looks tired, but glowing, in this image seen just after the birth of baby Daniella.
The father, Joe holds his new daughter outside the Boca Raton Regional Hospital’s Toppel Family Place.
The baby girl, pictured here unaware of the drama she’d caused, weighed eight pounds and six ounces on arrival.
Her sons, Dominic (left) and Angelo (right) welcome their new sister.
