By Shelby Stewart-Soldan
Staff Writer
Goodrich — Despite being past her due date, Penelope Roelandt was eager to make her entrance to the world.
“It was Sunday, on the 28th,” said Jen Roelandt, a Goodrich resident. “We were going to the hospital because I was having contractions.”
But Roelandt’s husband Chris would end up delivering their baby in the car on the side of the road, about ten minutes from the hospital.
“The birth of my first daughter was fast too so we went early,” said Roelandt. “They say not to come to the hospital until your contractions are about 4-5 minutes apart for an hour. And we did that with our first, and she was here half an hour after getting to the hospital. This time I was about 8-10 minutes apart, and as we started to drive down, they got faster.”
The drive to the hospital was 45 minutes, but when they were about ten minutes away from the hospital, Roelandt said her contractions were 2-3 minutes apart and she felt the need to push.
“Chris was on the phone with the 911 dispatch, and she told us to pull over and she would walk him through it, and that EMTs were on their way,” she said.
Chris, who is a former EMT, said he was nervous.
“I was nervous at first, but once the baby came, I was very relieved,” he said. “Thank you to the Oakland County dispatch, the Oakland County Sheriff’s Department, and the fire department that transported her to the hospital. They were great, and thank you so much.”
Once Chris delivered Penelope, they made sure she was breathing and crying like normal, and EMTs arrived within five minutes to transport Roelandt and Penelope to the hospital.
“We had to stay an extra day in the hospital for the baby,” she said. “But everything is good. Everyone is good. And now we have a story to tell.”