Teacher Gives Birth in Classroom
E U L E S S, Texas, Nov. 3 -- Some things in this world just can't wait, and a baby's birth is one of them, as one Texas teacher just learned — right in her own classroom.
Rhonda Schafer, who was due to have a baby next week, quickly learned that her newborn daughter was on a different schedule. Her 3- and 4-year-old students at the Bear Creek Elementary School in Euless, Texas, were whisked out of the classroom just in time for the impromptu delivery of little Aurora on Monday.
The baby was born, with help from the school nurse and another teacher, at 2:30 p.m. The emergency medical workers showed up at 2:38 p.m.
No Holding Back
"Everyone kept saying 'breathe, breathe but don't push. Wait for the paramedics.' And I was trying to tell them frantically, the baby's not waiting," Schafer said.
The teacher said she planned on working right up until the birth, and certainly succeeded beyond her expectations. Her due date was Nov. 6.
"That morning I was having some contractions," Schafer said. "They weren't very hard and they weren't that close together. But by about 1 in the afternoon, I was fairly sure that might be the day, but I had no idea it would be so soon."
Her doctor told her to call labor and delivery, but Schafer couldn't get through. In retrospect, she was glad that she didn't because it might have meant going into labor on the way to the hospital, in her truck. Instead, her water broke, right there in the classroom.
Schafer's aide got the little ones out of the classroom after Schafer whispered "call 911."
A Lesson in Birthing
The teacher's aide brought the children out of the classroom and summoned the nurse. Schafer lay down on a sweater behind her desk, and had the baby, with the help of the nurse, the kindergarten teacher, and over-the-phone assistance from labor and delivery at the hospital.
"I didn't even have to push, she just came right out," Schafer said.
Rhonda, and her husband, James, have two other children: Justin, 9 and Gavin, 3. Doctors had to induce labor in both cases, and giving birth took four hours for each of them.
Popular Reads
ABC News Live