NORTH ANDOVER, MASS. (WHDH) - Keith and Eliza Barnard’s baby girl, Nylah Lou, made her grand entrance into the world a little earlier than expected– in the couple’s kitchen.
“To be able to come together just the two of with us with our son sleeping down the hall and have her be good and healthy, that part of it is mind-blowing,” said Keith Barnard said.
Eliza Barnard said she began to feel contractions around 2:00 a.m. on August 2.
“Since this is my second time around, I kind of knew what to expect,” she said.
She woke her husband up, and they began making preparations.
“I came out into the kitchen and did payroll for my company, and then she got out, went into the bedroom and was putting on makeup and doing her nails of all things,” said Keith Barnard.
Minutes later, Eliza Barnard’s water broke. Based on her last 18-hour delivery, she said she thought she had more time before the baby came.
“In the moment, I was like, ‘let’s go, we need to get going here,’ but that two-minute delay actually was a blessing because, after that, we moved out into the kitchen,” her husband said.
Within minutes, Eliza Barnard began screaming.
“She was screaming like, ‘I can’t, I can’t help it, I’m pushing, I’m pushing, I’m pushing,’ and I ran over and felt the baby’s head, and she pushed again the baby Nylah came out,” her husband said. “I took her on my knees, picked her up and sucked everything out to get her passage way good.”
A 911 dispatcher was on the phone with the couple telling them what to do while they waited for the paramedics to arrive and help Keith Barnard cut the umbilical cord.
“I can’t downplay it, like it was the biggest adrenaline rush and most scariest experience I’ve ever dealt with in my entire life,” he said.
The couple said they named the baby Nylah Lou after their grandparents.
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