Woman Gives Birth In Car Like A Boss

Every now and then, a video of a woman giving birth in a car will pop up and they never cease to be incredibly captivating. When you think about it, it makes sense. “Woman gives birth in car" is the perfect intersection of all the things we want from our viral videos: ordinary humans accomplishing seemingly superhuman feats (which is a label most of us would assign to the act of giving birth alone without the help of medical professionals); everyday events occurring in unusual circumstances; profoundly emotional life milestones; and just enough gross bodily fluids to keep it interesting. In short, women popping out babies in cars deliver (ha, get it?) everything we could possibly want from a viral video, all tied up at the end with a cute baby. What's not to love?

Maybe because I've given birth myself, or perhaps just because I'm a vaguely empathetic human who experiences feelings when I'm in proximity to other people's moments of powerful emotions, but these videos of women giving birth under unforeseen conditions always leave me a bit wrecked, in a wonderful way. Giving birth — no matter how many times you've done it, nor how confident and prepared you feel going into it — is intense in every conceivable definition of the word, and always carries with it the possibility of things drastically changing at any turn. As soon as you've gotten through one part of the labor and birth process, there's a next step and that next step could go very differently than you expect it to, shifting everything you thought you knew about how your birth would go. When women face the work of getting a baby from the inside to the outside of their bodies, they're not only tasked with the job-at-hand, but with the ever-present knowledge that, at any point, they could be thrust dramatically outside their range of expectation and comfort. That's the job. It's thrilling and terrifying, and when you get through it, no matter how your birth story ends up going, you're left with a feeling like — compared to what you just pulled off — you could do absolutely anything and that nothing will ever feel scary or hard again.

Those are all the thoughts that come to mind while watching this video. This is clearly not how this woman thought her birth would go. I mean, it's not how anyone imagines it will go. But, in a real "gotta do what ya gotta do" moment, this couple just rolls with it, and with far less freaking out and fewer F-bombs than I would've been able to muster. It's impressive to watch her go through so many stages during these few minutes:

All the fear, and pain, and stress on her face as she feels her water breaking

The moments when you can actually see her belly contracting, and her body shaking

If you've ever been in labor like this, I'm certain you saw and felt at least a little physical flashback, like, "Lady, I feel you. I know what that feels like. Hold on, girl, you got this."

The shocked acceptance when she realizes that the baby is coming ou– ... and oh, hey, there he is, he's out.

You see when the look on her face goes from "shock" to "too busy focusing on picking up her baby and making sure he's OK to feel her own shock and fear"? You're literally seeing the exact moment when this woman became a mother. That's it. That's the moment.

In just a few minutes, it's a reminder both that birth is seriously powerful

And also that, in the end, women know how to do this. It's pretty amazing.

Also, that baby was huge and this woman is a champion. Special shout-out to her husband for being calm and adorable. Secondary shout-out to all the moms who, like me, were ugly-crying by the end of this. This woman is a supreme badass.

Images: YouTube (5)