Husband delivers wife’s baby outside hospital because doors were locked, KY couple says

After encountering two sets of locked doors, a pregnant woman gave birth outside a Kentucky hospital over the weekend, the couple says.

Sarah Patrick’s due date for her third child was May 17, but she started feeling contractions Friday night, WDRB reported. As they worsened, she and her husband David rushed to Baptist Health hospital in Louisville but encountered an obstacle.

When they arrived early Saturday morning, the automatic doors to the Women First pavilion opened, but the second set of doors did not, the Louisville Courier-Journal reported.

They couple said their doctor told them to use that set of doors, WLKY reported.

They tried to get the attention of someone inside.

“I banged on the door, shook the door,” Sarah told the outlet. “I banged on it and thought at least a security guard will see a huge pregnant woman banging on the door, and nothing,”

Next, they tried a side door but it was also locked, according to WDRB. They were about to try the emergency room, but the situation had become urgent, according to the outlet.

“My water broke while we were standing in the middle of the street,” Sarah said, according to WLKY. “After another contraction came and I put my hand in my pants, I feel the top of my son’s head coming out.”

David helped his wife lay down and called 911 then explained the situation to the dispatcher who would help David through the process, the Courier-Journal reported.

“I put my phone speaker and set it down. My wife is screaming ...‘He’s coming! He’s coming!’” David said, according to the newspaper. “I suddenly see about a third of the top of my new son’s head so I was like, ‘Oh my gosh. This is really happening.’”

Not long after, David delivered their little boy, Navi Patrick, WDRB reported.

“My husband caught him with his hands,” Sarah told the outlet.

When the dispatcher told David he needed to bind the umbilical cord, he did so with a surprising item, the Courier-Journal reported.

“We both had boots on, so we didn’t have shoe strings available,” David told the newspaper. “But my grandmother had knitted COVID-19 masks for the family. I find a mask and roll it like a really tight tortilla.”

Emergency medical services arrived soon after, WLKY reported.

The couple told WDRB they don’t know why the doors were locked but that they’re not upset with this hospital; just happy to be healthy and home, according to the outlet.

Baptist Health said it’s reviewing the incident and issued a statement to WLKY.

“Patients who come to Baptist Health Louisville, who are pregnant and in labor, can always enter the hospital in the middle of the night through the emergency room or enter through the entrance to the Labor and Delivery department which is located in the front of the building,” the statement said, according to the outlet.

“Both entrances have signage and both entrances are open 24 hours a day and 7 days a week. Other entrances to the hospital are closed after 7 p.m. until 5 a.m.,” the statement said.