It’s a pregnant woman’s worst nightmare. A Salt Lake City woman, who was 30 weeks pregnant and driving by herself on a lonely portion of highway with no buildings in sight, suddenly went into labor.
Lynette Hales, 39, was still 100 miles from home, but her twin unborn babies wouldn’t wait, The Associated Press reported. She had no choice but to pull over on the side of Interstate 80 — at a spot that happened to be home to a giant metal statute named, “The Tree of Life,” AP said.
Her first, Jeffrey Jr., or J.J., was born before emergency responders arrived, AP reported. He was grayish-blue in color and not breathing.
“I was so scared that he wasn’t going to make it and that my choice of being out there was going to cause my babies not to live,” she said, AP reported.
Utah State Trooper Nathan Powell sped to the scene.
“I could see the baby was purple,” he said, in the AP report. “He didn’t look real good.”
The trooper used a suction instrument to clear the baby’s mouth and nose and proceeded to administer CPR. The baby began to breathe by himself just as Ms. Hales started to deliver the second — Anthony James, or A.J.
“It gave out a big squawk,” Trooper Powell said, in the AP report.
An ambulance arrived shortly after, along with helicopters carrying high-risk pregnancy specialists. Both babies and the mother are doing well, AP said.
“They are such miracles,” Ms. Hales said, of her twins, in the AP report. “They are fighters.”
• Cheryl K. Chumley can be reached at cchumley@washingtontimes.com.
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