The Indy Channel
INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. — A story of courage and inspiration has emerged from the cold and unrelenting snowstorm after a young mother delivered her first baby at home early Monday morning – by herself.
Early in the morning, a young mother on the northeast side faced her fear to deliver a bundle of joy.
Evangeline Beatrix Grove is a baby with her own timeline -- one that defied the predictions of the doctors and her own mother.
“Her due date was not until the 21st. She wanted to see this blizzard. She didn’t want to miss out,” mother Mariah Grove said.
Grove planned to have a home birth, just one not this early.
Late Sunday night, Grove contacted the midwives and then her mother, but nobody could get to her in time. All by herself, her contractions continued until 2 a.m. and then her water broke.
Grove knew she would have to go at it alone and the bedroom had to become the delivery room.
“The second she came out, she was crying. She was pink. She’s already nursed several times. I had no tearing. I couldn’t have asked for a better outcome,” Grove said.
Grove’s grandmother, snowbound yesterday in Jamestown, heard her great-granddaughter’s first cries at 3:20 a.m.
“I think we lose sight at just how natural this is because a woman is trained to go to the hospital. And as long as everything is fine, she did it herself,” Bonnie May said.
Grove had never planned on going to a hospital, but she had never planned on giving birth all by herself either.
She said she had all the help she needed from Evangeline Beatrix, who now will forever be known as Evie.
“Once the water broke and I realized this was it, all fear went away. I realized it wasn’t going to help me and that we would be a team and do this together. And we did it,” Grove said.
Little Evangeline Beatrix was born 20 inches long and weighed in at 7.5 pounds. Both mother and baby are doing well.
Republished with permission from The Indy Channel