CHARLOTTE, N.C. - A Mecklenburg County Commissioner delivered his own baby in a driveway Friday morning. NBC Charlotte caught up with the family at the hospital.
It was 1:30am.Commissioner Matthew Ridenhour says he was packing the car to bring his wife to Novant health to give birth. That's when they realized, their new baby wasn't waiting.
“There is Abby and the fetal position on her side next to my car with the car door open in the interior light on." They thought they had plenty of time., but baby Hodson had different plans.
“I could just tell that she was really scared that she's going to have a baby right there in the driveway in the grass,” said Ridenhour.
Matthew also realized he was going to have to deliver his son. “In our human spirit, I think there's a way to overcome situations like this and kind of focus on what's important."
What’s important was their baby boy.
“You hear the baby start making noises and moving around and I can see him. And that's when you're just like, 'Okay, the babies fine.'” Soon enough, local EMS arrived.
“I ran up to the driveway like, 'We're here.'” Everyone was safe, sound, and smiling.
“If we had taken a picture two and a half to three minutes earlier, it would've been a different picture,” joked the commissioner.
Ridenhour, a marine who was deployed twice to Afghanistan, wonders if that’s what helped him keep his cool.
“If I spent 11 years in the Marines and it prepared me for that one moment, I'd say that was a good 11 years.”
Of course, mom is a hero too.
And yeah, little Hodson owes them both big time.
“When he gets a little older and I ask him to go sweep the driveway and he's like, 'No. I don't want to go sweep the driveway.' I'll say 'listen son, I delivered you on that driveway, the least you can do is go sweep it off.'”
The good news is everyone is happy and healthy, and the ridenhour family will be home with their new addition shortly.
