Mom's Nickname for Baby Born on Side of Road: Superman

By Autumn Johnson

Andrea Chugg did not expect to hear her third child's very first cries while sitting in the passenger seat of her friend's Chevy Suburban on the corner of Rose Street and Pestana Way in Livermore but that is how baby Jacob's first moments of life began.

Chugg, 32, of Livermore says her 9-pound, 1 ounce baby boy was born before she could make it to the hospital in the early morning hours of July 6.

According to Chugg, she started having contractions on July 4 and went to the hospital to get checked. Hospital staff examined her and found that she was dilated about two centimeters and after having her walk around a bit, sent her home and told her to return once the contractions were so strong that she could "no longer walk and talk."

Chugg, who was due on July 14, saw her doctor the next day and was still only dilated to two centimeters, despite the regular contractions.

"We went to the fair later that day with my kids and grandma and saw the fireworks," Chugg said. 

That evening, Chugg says she took a bath and went to bed only to wake up a few hours later with intense contractions.

"I woke my mom to watch my other two kids and got a hold of my friend, Peggy, to drive me, which took a while since it was around 1:30 in the morning and she stopped to get gas," Chugg said. "As I got into the car, I felt the baby crown and told her the baby was coming."

According to Chugg, Peggy pulled over after two blocks and called 911 while Chugg labored through contractions that were about a minute apart.

"I was breathing and in so much pain, I was trying to get any comfortable position, turning to the side and holding the center console," she said. "The first help to arrive were the police and then the fire department. I kept telling them the baby was coming. They started asking how far along I was, where I lived and then I screamed and the baby flew out of my shorts, down through the car door and the umbilical cord held him from hitting ground."

Chugg likens Jacob's speedy delivery akin to comic book hero Superman's preferred method of travel.

"My baby flew out of me like a speeding bullet," Chugg said,  laughing. "I nicknamed him Superman."

Chugg said the firefighters scrambled to find a bulb syringe to clear the baby's airways while the paramedics got a gurney for her and baby Jacob.

Chugg added, "They tried to clean him up the best they could with the grey blanket they had." 

The paramedics delivered the placenta on the way to ValleyCare Medical in Pleasanton.

Baby Jacob is doing well, according to his mother. Chugg says she had to have a blood transfusion before being released two days later but is thankful everything worked out the way it did.

"Had we not been in a Suburban, had the cord been longer, things might have turned out differently for Jacob," Chugg commented.

Chugg has two other boys, 7-year-old Jordan and Jayden, who just turned two a week before Jacob's unique birth.