Family happy, healthy after baby delivered at law office
What started off as a normal day for a pregnant mom from Bryans Road soon ended with the birth of baby girl, Izabella Rose Graham, otherwise known to some as “the law office baby.”
On Aug. 30, parents-tobe Jamie Greathouse and Christopher Graham were stuck in traffic on Charles Street on their way to University of Maryland Charles Regional Medical Center in La Plata. The road was snarled enough that they were at a halt in front of the Law Office of Olmsted & Olmsted — which is when Greathouse announced she was in pain and needed to start pushing.
Greathouse said she ended up getting out of the car, no longer able to sit in the kneeling position, because she was experiencing labor pains in her back which she had never experienced while having her three other children. Although her due date was officially Sept. 2, her baby arrived three days early.
“I was in serious pain and staying in that car wasn’t helping. My focus was where am I going to go and have this baby because I wasn’t making it to the hospital,” Greathouse said. “I started walking on the sidewalk, holding onto the pole bent over, and then Holly Sanderson came out of the office to ask if everything was OK. I told her ‘I’m in labor.’”
Sanderson, a secretary at the law office, said she was on her lunch break when she noticed the couple in the parking lot.
Sanderson invited the couple into the law office and allowed Greathouse to use the bathroom. As soon as Sanderson closed the door, Greathouse had another contraction and her water broke, quickly followed by Izabella crowning. She immediately got on the floor and was ready to deliver.
Graham, Izabella’s father, said he was on the phone with 911 when he noticed a park police car and flagged down the officer for help. The officer helped direct the ambulance to the law office and Graham went inside to ask Sanderson for a firstaid kit.
“My concern was more for Izabella because we weren’t at a hospital, I never delivered a baby without medicine, and not knowing what could happen,” Greathouse said. “My adrenaline was such in high gear, knowing that I would deliver my baby in a bathroom, in an office, with a stranger. I wanted to make sure she was OK and healthy when it’s all said and done.”
Graham said he noticed when his newborn daughter was arriving that the umbilical chord was wrapped around her head.
“My reaction was why is she purple, she’s not breathing,” Graham said.
Sanderson unwrapped the umbilical chord and Greathouse instructed her to pull out the baby when she had another contraction.
“When Holly pulled her out, she was purple,” Greathouse said. “Holly cleaned her face off and then I used my finger to clean out what was in her throat and then patted her butt a couple of times. Then she let out a little cry and her color came back. She started crying regularly and I knew that she was OK.”
The family said they are very thankful to Sanderson for all of her help.
“I’m most definitely grateful that she was there,” Greathouse said. “She let us come into the office and she took the time to check on me when she heard me screaming in the parking lot. In today’s world, you don’t have many people like that anymore.”
Sanderson said all of this happened on the day of her 19th wedding anniversary. She lives in La Plata and has two children of her own, but they were delivered by Caesarean section. She said she didn’t leave home that morning expecting to help deliver a baby at lunchtime.
“I wasn’t scared, but I was panicked when the baby came out purple,” Sanderson said. “I believe I was the right person at the right time to be able to help them. I think the mom and the baby were amazing. They were just a wonderful family. I will forever remember this experience and it is definitely a story to tell.”
Graham said he was glad he and his girlfriend didn’t have to deliver the baby alone and without help.
“She didn’t have to step up, but she did, and now I have my baby girl,” Graham said.
Greathouse said Izabella is home, happy and growing. Although it could have been a different outcome for her family, she feels blessed to have their new baby.