As rain poured from the skies over Houston and floodwaters surged on Sunday, Andrea Smith went into labor.
The first-time mom and her husband, Greg, soon found themselves trapped inside their apartment by the deluge caused by the devastating Hurricane Harvey.
The Smiths, who are both doctors but not trained in obstetrics, were gearing up for an improvised home birth when a dump truck plowed through the lake outside their building that used to be their street, and a human chain made up of neighbors and firefighters formed to rescued the expecting mom.
New parents: Andrea and Greg Smith, of Houston, welcomed their baby daughter Monday, after finding themselves trapped by floodwaters in Houston
Neighbor Callie Hatcher shared a cellphone video of the heavily pregnant mom being escorted to the truck in the pouring rain and severe flooding, with her husband in tow.
The harrowing ordeal reached a happy conclusion early Monday morning with the birth of baby Adrielle.
Andrea, 32, and her husband, had moved to Houston last month to complete their medical training. The wife works in geriatrics and the husband is a pediatric anesthesiologist, reported People Magazine.
At the time the Category 4 hurricane hit on Friday, Andrea was 38 weeks pregnant with the couple’s first child; her two previous pregnancies had ended in miscarriages.
For the past couple of weeks, the mom-to-be had been experiencing contractions, which only intensified this weekend.
Finally, things came to a head on Sunday, and Andrea Smith realized that she was actually in labor.
A human chain made up of neighbors and firefighters formed outside the Smiths’ home Sunday to rescue Andrea. The woman was 38 weeks pregnant with her first baby
Screenshots above show Good Samaritans helping Andrea onto a dump truck, which arrived just in time to take her to the hospital during Sunday’s storm
The Smith were planning to get to the hospital early, but the rising floodwaters left them stranded inside their home and unable to get to the maternity ward, located just 2 miles away.
That is when, according to Andrea, her husband went into ‘super doctor mode,’ as she described to ABC News, and began collecting medical supplies from their neighbors, many of whom were also doctors.
Greg also asked his mother, Sue Chor, who had traveled from her home in Montana to help with the baby, to boil water and sanitize sewing needles and scissors.
‘There are a lot of medical trainees in the [apartment] complex so a general surgery resident next door came over and some emergency residents and finally an OB/GYN intern showed up too,’ Greg said. ‘People dug through their supplies and brought sutures and scalpels and anything that could be needed.’
Greg also reached out to an obstetrician friend, who offered to coach him through the home birth via FaceTime.
All the while, the Smiths were trying to reach emergency services, the US Coast Guard and the Texas National Guard, but there was no response.
Andrea, 32, and her husband, Greg, had moved to Houston last month to complete their medical training
Hope after heartbreak: Baby Adrielle was born early Monday morning; Andrea’s two earlier pregnancies had ended in miscarriages
What ultimately saved the day was a call that Andrea made to the director of her fellowship program who, in turn, asked his father to walk to a nearby fire station and get help.
Less than an hour later, Greg looked out the window and was amazed to see a dump truck pull up outside their apartment building.
By that time, the floodwaters were so high that a human chain was needed to help carry Andrea to the awaiting vehicle through waist-deep water.
‘I just kind of held onto them one person at a time and crawled along their arms until the firemen helped me up the ladder onto the truck,’ she said. ‘I was sitting on a fire hose in the back of the truck with a shower curtain over my head and looking at all the floodwater around us thinking, “This is so bizarre.”‘
The Smiths arrived at Texas Children’s Hospital about 15 minutes later, and 12 hours after that, just before 2am Monday, Andrea delivered baby Adrielle, who was born weighing 7lbs 6 ounces.
The infant had some complications that required a trip to the neonatal ICU.
‘If she were born at home, that wouldn’t have been the best place for her,’ Greg told People. ‘I’m so glad she is in the hospital.’
The name ‘Adrielle’ is translated from Hebrew as ‘belongs to God,’ but her family have dubbed her ‘Little Harvey’ and the ‘Hurricane.’