BEDFORD HEIGHTS, Ohio – Tasha Wilburn says she felt like she might be going into labor early Wednesday morning at her home in Bedford Heights, but there’s no way she could have anticipated the birth of her first child, six weeks before the due date.
Tasha’s husband was already at work and she ran to get her cell phone to call 911 for help, and then it happened.
“As I was headed to the living room where my cellphone was, I felt something down there and I went to reach down there and it was — the head,” said Wilburn, 28.
It happened so quickly that Wilburn delivered her own baby in the kitchen of her home.
The new mom told WJW, “She was coming; I just had to do what I had to do, I guess. I don’t know what kicked in. This is my first child. I’ve never been pregnant before. I didn’t even go to the classes yet, like birthing classes and what to expect. I didn’t know.”
Bedford Heights police officers and paramedics quickly arrived and were surprised to find Tasha holding her newborn daughter.
She says she is grateful that the first responders were able to help keep her calm, and one of them cut the umbilical cord. “I was just so happy that she was crying because that means she was breathing. I was worried that she was going to be too small. She ended up being a decent size, to be six weeks early,” said Wilburn.
Tasha and her baby were taken to Hillcrest Hospital, where the newborn is now being cared for in the Hillcrest Neonatal Intensive Care Unit.
When Tasha’s husband arrived at their home, a police officer explained what happened, and told Frankie Wilburn that he was the father of a beautiful daughter, delivered by his wife.
“I’m amazed actually, she’s a warrior,” said Wilburn. “I was in total shock and awe.”
The Wilburns say they wanted to give their daughter a name that would reflect the dramatic circumstances surrounding her entrance into the world, and the name they picked was Fayth.
Doctors have told the family that the only problem associated with Fayth Wilburn’s premature birth is that her lungs are underdeveloped, but the prognosis is good.
Tasha Wilburn says from now on, whenever she sees her daughter or says her name, she will be reminded of one of her favorite biblical verses about faith. “Now faith is the substance of things hoped for and evidence of things not seen, and that was kind of why we supported that part, trust in me, that confidence in me to bring her into this world and get her here safely,” said Wilburn.
