A Leitchfield couple is celebrating the homecoming of their healthy baby boy after an eventful birth in his parent’s home on Saturday, April 6, nearly three weeks before his due date.
Despite having already given birth to one child previously (who is now 7-years-old), Rachel Yeager said she didn’t realize she was giving birth to her second son, Abraham Condi Witten, until she could already see his head in her living room mirror.
Abraham’s father, Kris Witten, said he had planned to take Yeager to the hospital after she complained about her back hurting in the early hours of April 6, but neither he nor Yeager were fully aware that Yeager’s back pains were contractions, related to back labor.
Yeager said, “My first baby had a regular birth. [With Abraham,] I would think [my back pains] were contractions, but there was no way to count them. Then I just felt like I had to use the bathroom. After that, I looked in the mirror and saw his head coming out; I pushed once, and he came out.”
Witten said, “I thought having a baby would last hours, but [Abraham’s birth] happened in under a minute. I had just enough time to change into my jeans, and we drove to [Twin Lakes Regional Medical Center] right after.”
Witten said he cut Abraham’s umbilical chord himself and immediately rushed Yeager and Abraham to the hospital to seek medical attention.
“Abraham was crying when he came out, so I knew he was getting oxygen,” Witten said. “But I didn’t know that after you cut a baby’s umbilical chord, I was supposed to clamp it, and [I later learned that babies] lose blood if you don’t. For a split second, I considered cutting the chord closer to his stomach, but instead I cut it further down; I think that’s what slowed the bleeding.”
Witten said when he arrived at the hospital, he ran with Abraham into TLRMC’s Emergency Room (ER).
“It was 5 a.m. and nobody was at the desk in the ER, so I was running around banging on stuff, trying to get someone’s attention,” Witten said.
Witten said hospital attendants hooked Abraham up to an IV, while TLRMC Obstetrician Wendy Lee, D.O, aided Yeager in delivering the placenta.
Witten said Abraham was then transferred to Kosair Children’s Hospital for three days for observation and care after his sudden birth.
Witten said despite a rocky start, Abraham is now home and well.
“Luckily we live so close to the hospital, or [Abraham] wouldn’t have made it,” Witten said. “But he’s really strong and really healthy. I’m just happy to have my baby back.”
Yeager said Abraham weighed 6.1 pounds and was 18 inches long at birth.
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