Orangeburg, SC (WLTX) - A baby boy was born in an Orangeburg family's bathroom before they could go to the hospital.
Years from now Ken and Megan Herring will have an interesting story to tell their son Ewan.
The baby boy came a couple of weeks early and he was not born where they expected.
"I think it is funny because we still can't believe it happened the way it did," said Megan.
Two-week-old Ewan was not due until May 16, but he had other plans according to his parents.
"I couldn't get comfortable," said Megan. It was during the early morning hours of April 30, Megan was trying to sleep, but was preparing to go to work tired in a few hours.
She said, "This uncomfortableness is not going away. Am I in labor? And then around that time Ken checked on me and saw me standing up."
According to Megan, Ken asked, "What's wrong? I said, I think, I'm not sure, but I think I'm in labor." After about 30 minutes of labor pains, she told Ken it was time to go to the hospital. They gathered their bags along with a few other things.
Megan said, "I had to stop every few minutes to breathe through a contraction, and the whole time I am trying to time the contractions, and I'm having a hard time doing it."
Living close to the hospital, they thought they had plenty of time before the baby would arrive.
According to Megan, "It is a matter of seconds. It goes from okay we should have time, to me screaming saying, no, no we don't have time."
Megan got on the bathroom floor and gathered some towels. Ken called the ambulance, but in less than three minutes, it was too late. "And Ewan just plops out," said Megan.
The umbilical cord was loosely around the baby's neck. Ken removed the umbilical cord from around Ewan.
"He starts crying, which is a relief because I didn't hear him at first," said Megan. The ambulance arrived and the EMTs helped the rest of the way. They also allowed Ken to cut the cord.
The parents say someday they will tell Ewan how he came into this world, a couple of weeks early and in the bathroom floor at home.
Ken said, "It is a funny story now. It was not then, it was very, very frightening." Megan said laughing, "We will never look at the bathroom the same way again."
Ewan was about 20 inches long and he weighed 8 pounds, 6 ounces. Ken and Megan also have a 3-year-old son. The now family of four is doing great with their newest addition.
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