BATH

A baby who didn’t want to wait for her parents to get to a hospital was born in the passenger seat of a Chevy Silverado in the parking lot of the Shaw’s Supermarket very early Thursday morning.

Sophia Swain-Stark complained of some cramps a couple hours before bed Wednesday night, but didn’t think she was in labor.

But then her boyfriend, Shane Rines, said she woke up screaming, and so he grabbed some items, grabbed Swain-Stark, grabbed his niece — who was spending the night with the couple — and jumped in his truck and drove to Mid Coast Hospital in Brunswick, hazard lights flashing.

It is normally about a 20-minute drive from their home to the hospital, Rines said. The contractions were getting closer together and a couple miles before the Taste of Maine Restaurant in Woolwich, he said Swain- Stark “ starts screaming ‘the baby is coming!’”

“ I called 911 and told them I was in a black truck headed down Route 1, kind of fast. Not too fast,” letting them know he had his hazard lights on and why. Her water broke near the Sagadahoc Bridge.

Rines told the dispatcher the baby was coming. The dispatcher said Bath Fire and Rescue would meet them at Burger King along Route 1 in Bath. In his panic, Rines couldn’t remember where the restaurant was, or if he’d passed it. He drove into the Shaw’s entrance and saw the ambulance pull in behind him seconds later.

He barely had time to park, he said, before he jumped out and ran around to the other side of the truck to Swain-Stark, ready to catch the baby who was on her way out.

“ It was a crazy experience,” Swain- Stark said, about 12 hours after the birth of her daughter. “I had her right on the passenger seat of a Chevy Silverado. It was crazy. Absolutely crazy.”

Medics got the newborn and Swain- Stark onto a stretcher and into the ambulance, where Rines got to cut the cord.

Rines admits is was frightening, recalling that as he was driving he was trying to think if he had anything in the truck he could use for suction to clear his daughter’s airway.

“ The paramedics, they were unbelievable. They did a great job,” he said. “You could tell they knew what they were doing. As soon as they showed up they took control. I felt everything was safe. I heard her crying right away and a crying baby is an alive baby. Seconds before, I thought, ‘Uh oh, what am I going to do.’”

Rines’ niece videotaped the birth of baby Chloe, who weighed in at 5 pounds, 12 ounces. She was due on Feb. 24.

This certainly was not what Swain-Stark expected. The birth of her son — Luke, now 20 months old — involved a very long, continuous labor.

This time, she was pushing before her water broke, and when it did break, Chloe was out in seconds.

“ Oh my God, it was an incredible experience,” Swain-Stark said.

“It was a miracle,” Rines said.

Bath Fire Chief Lawrence Renaud confirmed that three medics from Bath Fire and Rescue responded to an active child birth at 2:30 a.m. Thursday — Rick Davis, Kevin Hinds and Charles Stahl.

When all was said and done, medics arrived in the parking lot at 2: 33 a. m., transported mother and child at 2: 47 a. m. and arrived at the hospital at 3 a.m.

Births that won’t wait for the hospital have happened several times within his career, Renaud said, and it is an eventuality medics are trained and schooled for.

“This is what every paramedic wants to have in their career, to either deliver or assist in the delivery of a child,” Renaud said. For a medic, working in an uncontrolled environment feels controlled and is where they excel.

“ They do well working under extreme conditions,” he said. “I think it’s part of the DNA. Five minutes from now you could be doing one of a thousand things. You never know what the next call is going to bring. You go from zero to hero in about two and a half minutes.”

Brodie Hinckley, director of the Sagadahoc County Communications Center, said dispatchers at all E911 Public Safety Answering Points in Maine are nationally certified through Emergency Medical Dispatcher. Unlike the days of old, it allows dispatchers to serve as first responders and give life saving emergency medical instructions over the phone while also keeping rescue personnel updated. They have scripted protocols for every medical emergency, including birth.

“It blows me away,” Rines said Thursday. “ I’m still blown away. I can’t believe it. I’ve been waiting for this day for what seems forever. Everything just worked out so well.”

He added he may keep his old truck out front rotting so he can show his daughter where she was born and tell her the story.

“ It’s just an amazing story.”

dmoore@timesrecord.com