The love a parent has for their child is so strong that most parents would be willing to sacrifice their own life or break any law in order to keep them safe.
So when one first-time father discovered his fiancée was in labor and the baby’s life was in danger, he resorted to drastic measures to try and get them to the hospital in time.
On Patrol
Shortly before midnight on New Year’s Eve, a South Carolina police officer was on patrol in downtown Charleston. While the officer was patrolling the street, he was looking out for drunk drivers and making sure everyone was safely celebrating the final few hours of 2017.
Reckless Driving
For New Year’s Eve, the night had been pretty calm, but the officer jumped to action when a car going between 90 and 95 miles per hour flew by on the interstate. The officer assumed that the reckless driving was a result of the driver being under the influence.
The Call
However, that was the farthest thing from the truth. The driver, Carl Alewine, had not ingested any alcohol or done any drugs all night. Just a few hours earlier, Carl was at work with a friend but rushed home when he got a frantic call from his fiancée, Tiffani Von Glahn.
Heading To The Hospital
Tiffani was pregnant with their first child, and when she started going into labor, she called Carl to let him know. After hearing how strong Tiffani’s contractions already were, Carl immediately left work to go pick her up and drive her straight to the hospital.
Labor Pains
The Medical University of South Carolina was about an hour away from their home in St. George, South Carolina. So when Carl got home and saw how far Tiffani’s labor had already progressed, he knew he would have to break the speed limit to get her there.
The Pressure Is On
“Right when I get on the on the ramp of the interstate, I hear a loud splash and hear her scream that her water broke, and my foot just hit the gas,” said the 27-year-old first-time father, who was terrified of what would happen if he didn’t get to the hospital in time.
High-Risk
Doctors had told the couple that Tiffani was considered a high-risk pregnancy because of her tiny frame, her tilted cervix, and the baby’s dangerous position. For all of those reasons, doctors had always planned to perform a C-section to deliver the baby.
Life Or Death
The couple had been warned that a natural birth was out of the question since it would put Tiffani and the baby’s life in danger. “That’s what really made me go – I was very nervous. I was on the phone with the hospital with her screaming in the background.”
Flashing Lights
Carl was driving about 90 miles per hour and was half an hour away from the hospital. By that point, however, he had also caught the attention of a police officer, who had started following him and was flashing his lights to try and pull him over.
Too Much At Stake
In any other situation, Carl would have pulled over, but he didn’t have the time to deal with the police with so much at stake. “I looked at Tiffani, I looked at the cops, and she’s screaming,” Carl said about the stressful moment he decided not to pull over.
No Choice
“She says, ‘Babe, please don’t stop!’ So, what are you going to do, you know? I’m thinking, ‘I’m going to go to jail tonight.’” While Carl had a good reason to speed, the cop had no idea if the driver of the speeding car was drunk, high, or fleeing the scene of a crime.
The Chase
So when Carl refused to pull over, the officer called in reinforcements to help safely put an end to the dangerous high-speed chase. Carl put his emergency flashers on and tried to call highway patrol to explain the situation, but no one answered.
No Time To Lose
“The hospital told me I could pull over and wait for an ambulance, but I knew if we waited, Tiffani could get hurt, or the baby could get hurt,” the protective father-to-be said about his decision. “Pulling over just wasn’t an option, I would have taken going to jail.”
Reinforcements Arrive
After speaking with the hospital, Carl thought they might have notified the police that they were headed for the hospital and the police were just giving him an escort. But as he drove around a bend in the interstate, he saw 20 more police cars behind him.
The Chase Is Over
When Carl noticed police cars were blocking the exit ramps that he was driving by, he realized they had closed the entire interstate because of him. “Eventually it got to where they had to box us in to stop us,” Carl said about the moment the high-speed chase came to an end.
The Arrest
The chase had lasted 15 minutes, and as Carl slowed to a stop, he opened the window and tried to tell the police what was going on. However, the nearest cop had his gun drawn, and ordered Carl to step outside of the 2001 Jeep Grand Cherokee.
The Truth Is Revealed
An officer immediately put Carl in handcuffs, and then realized that there was a pregnant woman in labor in the passenger seat. Luckily, a police officer’s father who was a former EMT firefighter had been along for the ride and jumped into action.
The Birth
“I asked the mom how many weeks she was, sat there and told her I need to take a peek, saw a head full of hair and then caught it,” said Goose Creek firefighter Neal Arrington about the moment he helped deliver baby Anastasia. Despite giving birth on the hood of a car in the middle of an interstate, the natural delivery went perfectly.
A Miracle
Miraculously, both Tiffani and baby Anastasia, who weighed 6 pounds and 2 ounces, had no complications. “I’ve seen a lot of things in my life you guys … but watching my daughter be born on a New Years midnight in the middle of the interstate through tear soaked eyes, in handcuffs, from the hood of my jeep, in the reverie of 100 blue patrol lights as fireworks burst all around us,” Carl said.
The Handcuffs Come Off
“As they took the handcuffs off … I’ve never seen or felt something so human and compassionate in my life,” Carl added. “The arresting officer walked up to me, took the cuffs off, and said ‘it’s a girl. Go see your wife and kid, man.'”
First-Time Mom Gives Birth On Interstate After Fiancé Leads Police On High-Speed Chase is an article from: LifeDaily