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Mom gives birth to little girl on I-84
A wild ride brought a new life into the world Feb. 17 when a Mountain Home woman gave birth to her second child, a little girl, on I-84, while heading to a hospital in Boise.
But it wasn't without some complications.
Lisa Ytuarte, 25, said her water broke and she woke her husband, Paul, at about 4:50 a.m. Friday morning to tell him "it's time."
The child's due date had been Valentine's Day and Mrs. Ytuarte said the doctors "had been wanting to induce me, but I wanted to do it on my own." She said she hadn't had any contractions or labor pains leading up to the time her water broke. And because she'd had a normal delivery with her first child, she wasn't anticipating anything different this time.
She said Paul "jumped up, and we got in the car," and headed to St. Luke's Regional Medical Center in Boise where her doctor was expected to meet her.
She admitted that "Paul was doing about 110 mph, and the car kept shutting down he was going so fast," to get to the hospital.
But it wasn't fast enough.
"We didn't get to Simco Road," she said, when she began giving birth. "Paul kept saying, 'don't push, don't push,' but I could feel her coming out." She stripped off her pajamas "and the next time Paul looked over at me I had the baby in my arms. I didn't think she'd come out that fast, but it was like one little push and she was there."
But the joy of birth quickly turned into serious concern.
Mrs. Ytuarte said the child was blue, did not cry, and did not appear to be breathing. Her husband got on his cell phone and called 911. He was advised to pull over to the side of the road and wait for the ambulance to arrive. He also was told to begin baby CPR, but by the time he got to that point "she seemed to be breathing a little, although she was still blue," Mrs. Ytuarte said, so the couple were told not to do the CPR. They wrapped her in a blanket to keep her warm.
Meanwhile, Paul was told to assist with the delivery of the afterbirth and to tie off the umbilical cord. "All he had was his shoelaces," Mrs. Ytuarte said, adding he has kept them as a momento.
The ambulance arrived just a few minutes later and the baby was given oxygen. By the time the family arrived at St. Luke's the child had regained her color, appeared to be breathing normally and was making sounds.
Doctors told the couple that the baby was fine with no apparent aftereffects from her slow start into life. In fact, she was making up for her inital silence by crying lustily while Mrs. Ytuarte was being interviewed. "They said we did everything right, that she's going to be fine," she said.
Coral Ytuarte was officially listed as being 8 lbs. 3 oz. at birth, and was 20.5 inches long. Mrs. Ytuarte said that based on the time of their 911 call, they estimated she was born at about 5:17 a.m.
She joins her older sister, Shelby, who will soon turn three. Mrs. Ytuarte said Shelby is enjoying her new baby sister "and she saw us on TV, so she's been pretty excited."
Grandparents are Martin and Judy Ytuarte of Mountain Home and Sheila Reid and Ken Bowman of Mountain Home.