A Maine teacher went from educating her students to giving birth in the school parking lot — just minutes after she dismissed her last class of the day as her contractions intensified.
Tori Hildreth wasn’t expecting to meet her daughter when she arrived at work on Oct. 8, but as the day went on, plans changed as her contractions worsened, and her only option was to give birth in the parking lot of Old Town High School in Old Town.
The 30-year-old, who’s the Jobs for Maine Graduates instructor, dismissed her students around 2:05 p.m., and by 2:18 was in the parking lot holding her baby, Bella, according to local reports.
“I was talking to my students and said, ‘I probably will not be here tomorrow because I think that I’m going to have this baby soon’,” she told Fox 4.
“Within the next 20 minutes, my contractions went from an hour apart to like five minutes apart.”
With her second child expected to arrive at the end of October, Hildreth said she was determined to delay her maternity leave despite being full-term and experiencing mild contractions when she went to school that morning.
Her contractions were an hour apart at the start of the day, local outlets reported, but became more frequent as the day went on, resulting in her dismissing her class and quickly calling her mother and the school nurse for help.
Hildreth’s mother — who works nearby — arrived just in time for her daughter’s water to not only break but give birth in the parking lot as a contraction led to childbirth before EMS could arrive.
“I was able to get my pants down and then the baby came right then and there,” she told Fox, adding that her newborn leaped into the school nurse’s arms.
Hildreth’s father — who is the captain of the Old Town Fire Department — was one of the first responders on the scene and wept instantly when he realized the call was for his own daughter, according to reports.
“My mom and I were both in shock. He’s the first one to respond to a maternity call that it was his daughter and that is probably true,” Hildreth told WABI.
“That’s some small-town stuff right there, I would say.”
The school celebrated Hildreth’s unconventional birth on Facebook with photos of the happy family of four sharing that the “whole scene was an imperfectly perfect moment.”
Hildreth then gave her students and colleagues a proper send-off as she left with her newborn for the hospital.
“I told them see you in 3 months!” Hildreth told Fox.
