‘It happened so fast’: Soldier from Elizabethtown delivers wife’s baby on side of road
By Madeline Carter
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BULLITT COUNTY, Kentucky (WLKY) — A U.S. Army Major from Elizabethtown had no time to think when his wife went into labor on I-65.
Jered and Stephanie Collins were rushing to Norton Women’s and Children’s Hospital in St. Matthews on Saturday after Stephanie’s water broke, but they never made it to their destination.
The couple called 911 as soon as they realized the baby was coming right there on the highway.
An emergency dispatcher guided the couple to pull off at exit 112, near the Jim Beam Distillery. Jered and Stephanie said they had just enough time to park the car on the right shoulder when Stephanie went into labor.
“It happened so fast that I didn’t have time to open any door. The baby just started to come,” Jered said.
He immediately jumped into action, delivering his own son in the front seat of his Toyota 4Runner.
“I figured I’d just wait there and the ambulance would show up and they would deliver it there, but no,” he said. “The little baby came out and it was sitting in my hands, and here we are today.”
Jered is a U.S. Army Major stationed at Fort Knox. He said his extensive military training could never have prepared him to deliver a baby on the side of the road, let alone his own son.
Stephanie said she is grateful he knew how to handle the situation under pressure without knowing what to do in the moment.
The couple describes the bizarre birth as a “blur,” and said they never imagined their newborn son could make such a big entrance.
“I was just so thankful that he was okay,” said Stephanie. “I had a lot of complications with my pregnancy too, so you know, there were always those worries that something would go wrong, but I never thought it would be because I had to deliver him in a car.”
Stephanie told WLKY this situation proves Jered is an amazing father.
“It’s special being a dad, especially bringing him in the way that we did,” Jered said.
Graham Alan Collins was born at 6:59 p.m. on Saturday, July 17, weighing 8 pounds, 10 ounces.
After the big rush to meet his family, baby Graham is healthy and home safe in Elizabethtown with his mom, dad, and two older sisters.
“We’re just getting adjusted to a family of five, and just ready to relax and settle down a little bit,” Stephanie said.
The couple said Graham is the calmest among their three children so far, despite his hectic way of entering the world.
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