A Lebanon couple had quite a morning as a nor'easter moved into Connecticut on Monday.
Kaitlyn Vacchina went into labor and her husband drove her to Backus Hospital in Norwich, but their daughter didn't want to wait for her mother to make it into the hospital.
Kaitlyn Vacchina said she was just trying to get through each contraction, so the ride to the hospital was intense, and she did not realize the road conditions. Along the way, said she kept apologizing to her husband because what they were going through was his worst fear.
David pulled up to the emergency department and ran in, shouting that his wife was having a baby. By the time he returned to the car a few seconds later, the baby was arriving.
"I caught the baby, put the baby on mommy's belly," David said.
A member of the hospital staff asked if they needed anything and he said, "towels, blankets, doctors."
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Emergency department nurses and doctors ran outside to help with blankets and towels and more.
"I began running, following the staff headed out to the parking area," Dr. Theresa Adams said. "Then someone shouted 'The baby's out. The baby's out.'"
Dr. Adams cut the umbilical cord, grabbed the baby and got her inside as other hospital staff helped bring Kaitlyn into the hospital as well.
The doctor, who has been on the front lines of the COVID-19 pandemic, said this was a moment of joy amid a pandemic that doctors across the state have been working through for nearly a year.
"Having had some rough few months, almost a year now we've been dealing with the virus and the impact it's had on our community, it was really a pleasant surprise and a memory I'm always going to keep from my experiences in the emergency department," Adams said.
Little Molly Joyce was due a day earlier, on Sunday, arrived Monday, weighing 8 pounds, 3 ounces and she was just fine.
Mom and Dad are doing alright as well.
Reflecting on what happened Monday, David said it's one thing to witness the birth of your child, but to actually bring your daughter into the world in your own hands was a surreal experience and there are no words for it.
Molly has a big sister, Adalyn, who is 2-and-a-half.
