ESCONDIDO (KGTV) - A Mother delivered her second child in the family car on the shoulder of I-15 on the way to Scripps Hospital Encinitas, with dad's help.
Courtney Taglieri didn't like the way the birth of her first child went. She was anxious, and there were numerous complications with her baby. She decided this time around she'd take control.
She and her husband Matthew decided to take hypnobirthing classes. "I wanted to feel more empowered and confident this time. So I knew I wanted to get a Doula, and do hypnobreathing and do all that so I could do it on my own."
Matthew didn't think they would end up giving birth on the side of the freeway.
Thursday morning, around 2:40 a.m., Courtney woke up with contractions. Her water broke just before 5 a.m. and the rush to get to the hospital began.
On I-15, she knew she wasn't going to make it to Scripps Memorial.
"[She said] My body's pushing I can't stop, okay, I see a spot but I was going to fast to slow down, so I start moving over and I'm like, 'Okay Courtney I'll get you to the next spot.' I finally see another spot, I pull over and everything just kicked off from there. We got to the side, got safe and our Doula was right behind us," said Matthew.
Big sister and Grandma Sue were in the car in front of Mom and Dad.
Matthew did get a little nervous during the delivery.
"I've heard horror stories of people running into cars, [on the side of the road] hurting people, but I had faith in her, she's really really strong."
"When the baby first came out the head was blue and purple and I was like, is that normal? Is that right?" Their Doula, Karen, assured him the baby was perfectly fine.
The ambulance was there the entire time during the birth, and paramedics guided Matthew on cutting the cord.
"We wanted silence, we wanted our voices to be the first she heard, we wanted our hands to be the only ones on her," Courtney said not only was it incredibly special, but they had one more surprise. Their brand new baby is a girl.
They named her Berlyn.
Both mom and baby are happy and healthy and Courtney has advice for future mothers.
"Trust your body, that your body knows what it's doing, make your own decisions," she said.
Matthew served in the Marine Corps for eight years and says this ranks near the top as one of the scariest and most difficult things he's done.
