Raleigh News and ObserverRaleigh News and Observer
Lauren Banks/Lauren Banks

Lauren Banks didn't expect to give birth in the front seat of her car in a convenience store parking lot.

She said she was turned away from her local hospital.

It's still weird telling the story, she said.

One week before her due date, Banks went to CarolinaEast Medical Center in New Bern, North Carolina, with pain in her uterus. She said that her doctors told her that she would need to be dilated 5 centimeters to be considered for active labor.

She said the doctor told her the hospital was full and she wouldn't be able to stay.

She said that he apologized but that she was giving him no reason to keep her.

She said that at this point she was looking at all fours on the bed.

The hospital could not comment on this particular case because of patient privacy laws, but they would not turn a patient away.

CarolinaEast did not turn anyone away from the hospital and it has been for more than 55 years.

Banks told her husband that they needed to turn around when they got back to their house.

She said that she was not going to make it through the night.

She said that they tried to drive to a different hospital when her water broke. The couple called their neighbors to watch their two daughters and then hopped in the car to drive them to the hospital.

Banks said she screamed for her husband to call for help when she realized the baby's head was starting to emerge. The couple pulled into the parking lot of a convenience store in Bridgeton, a town on the coast that is 130 miles east of Raleigh.

Her husband was trying to help his wife deliver their baby from the front seat of their SUV when he called for help. He couldn't recline the passenger seat because of a baby carrier blocking it from the back seat, so Banks delivered the baby sitting up.

When EMTs arrived, they helped her and her baby into an ambulance and brought her back to the hospital that she said had turned her away hours earlier.

When we got there, one of the nurses looked at me and said that she had seen a ghost.

The hospital said that pregnant patients must meet certain criteria before they can be admitted. Every pregnant patient with a labor concern is immediately evaluated for their well-being and the well-being of the baby.

Babies don't always cooperate with expectations, and the hospital has heard stories of newborns making their debut in homes, cars, restaurants, and even gas stations.

Banks said that she and her husband are happy that she and Truett are safe. The baby is healthy.

She said it was scary to think of what could have gone wrong.

She said that her baby deserved better than that.

She said that her story causes her a lot of stress, but that her baby is growing up.

She said that he would never have to live through that stress if we explained it to him.

Banks doesn't know if her family will take legal action against the hospital, but she just wants an apology and an assurance that her medical bills will be covered.

She said she hoped they did better for the next mama.

The mom is on a flight to DC.

The miracle baby was born at

Just outside the maternity unit, ducks hatch. You can watch them waddle out.

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