After going through the birthing process with their first two children, Kris and Paul Demchuk figured they knew the drill pretty well.
The Snowden couple had gone through an 18-hour delivery with their first child, Kaylee, now 6; and a 12-hour delivery with their second child, Bubba, now 4. So they thought they were pretty safe in believing the birth of their third child would also be a long process. Besides, the baby wasn't due until the next day, and Kris had never delivered until after her due date.
But all the previous indicators did not apply, and the third time caught them way short of the delivery room.
"This time, things went quite a lot faster," Paul said later. "It wasn't like any of the other ones."
At about 1 p.m. on Jan. 21, the family had enjoyed a meal at a Chinese restaurant in Hood River. Kris had kung pao chicken. Soon after that, her water broke, but they still figured there was plenty of time before they had to go to the hospital, and they went to their parents house in Underwood. Then, at about 5 p.m., the family went home to Snowden.
"I've never gone on my due day before, so I wasn't completely ready. I hadn't even packed my bag," Kris said.
At about 6:20 p.m., Kris and Paul left their house on Acme Road, about 10 miles from their destination at Hood River Memorial Hospital. They were accompanied by their children, and were traveling in their Mazda minivan.
While headed toward White Salmon on Snowden Road, Kris started having severe contractions. Still, they weren't overly concerned.
In fact, they were halfway down Snowden when Kris realized she had forgotten her purse, which contained all their insurance papers and information. So back they went to the house to collect that, then they started out again.
"It was snowing a blizzard, so we were having to go slow," Kris explained. "I was saying, `go faster, but don't get in a wreck.'"
"Things started happening really fast," Paul added. "I was pretty frantic. We got to about the cemetery, and Kris just said, `Paul, you've got to pull over.' Then she said, `Paul, I feel the head in my pants.'"
Paul checked, and said he could see the baby's head already out up to its chin.
So, there by the side of Snowden Road, they were out of time. Kris leaned over, with her head on the passenger seat.
Paul said he told his two children to "pray, pray, and keep on praying."
In less than five minutes, the baby was sliding out into the world.
"We had all the doors open, and delivered the baby right there by the dome lights," Paul explained.
That's when the real seriousness started.
"I held the baby up by the heels, to try to get the stuff to drain out of her mouth and nose," he said. She didn't seem to be breathing well. That was a big worry. She was not making a whole lot of sound, so I tired to suction her out with my own mouth. Finally, she started crying -- "that's what we wanted to hear. That was a flood of relief."
But the umbilical cord was still attached, and there was no safe way to cut it. So Kris wrapped the newborn child in a coat, and Paul "drove like mad" to the Emergency Room at Skyline Hospital.
Emergency medical personnel cut the umbilical cord right there in the van.
"She got a little bit cold, but other than that she was fine," Kris said.
"They took her and put her under heat lamps and everything went great. It was just a miracle, really," Paul added.
The baby girl -- Savannah Grace Demchuk -- weighed 8 pounds and was 19 inches long.
"This delivery was way easier than the others," Kris said. "If it hadn't been in a car, it would have been pretty good."
She added that she still couldn't believe what happened.
"I've only seen that in the movies. I never thought I would be the one," she explained.
Paul said now every time he drives along that stretch of Snowden Road, he'll have a vivid memory of what took place that evening.
"Having the baby here wouldn't have been our first choice," he said. "But it brought us all closer together. We're thankful the Lord was with us."
Paul added that he thinks the Chinese dish had an impact in the process.
"The moral to it is, watch the kung pao chicken," he joked.
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