It was a super Sunday for Mark and Andrea Schroeder, but in their case it had nothing to do with the big bowl game Jan. 26.
It had everything to do with a special delivery of a brand new baby girl, Grace Diane Schroeder.
But little Grace came as a bit of a surprise to the Schroeders, who live on Golf Pointe Dr., not even allowing her new mom and dad to get out the front door on their way to the hospital.
Nope, Grace was born right on the kitchen floor of her home Sunday afternoon.
With an original due date of Jan. 19, Andrea began to experience signs of early labor Jan. 25 and made the trip to Beaumont Hospital in Royal Oak. Only she was sent home at 11:30 p.m., and told it was false labor.
She questioned the decision. “This is my third baby. But you know, it’s a doctor telling you this.” She followed the order, anyway, to return to the hospital when contractions were three to four minutes apart for one to two hours.
The contractions never stopped, but never got any closer to each other than five to 10 minutes. “It was like that until 3 p.m. the next day. I thought, God, this is just going to go on forever.”
But just like that, the contractions went from an average of eight minutes to two minutes apart. The Schroeders called their doctor to tell them they were on the way. “We were still thinking we had time,” Andrea, vice president of sales for a San Diego-based software company, said.
The contractions were becoming more painful and Andrea felt the need to push. She told Mark to call an ambulance, and she found herself on the hard wood floor in the kitchen.
Mark, an accountant, still had his winter coat on as he juggled the phone, listening to instructions from the dispatcher, and helped deliver the baby.
“He did so good,” Andrea said, of Mark. “We were trying hard not to panic, but I was screaming in the background to the dispatcher, ‘where are they? Where’s the ambulance?’ But they came as quickly as they possibly could.” Grace was just a little quicker.
The Schroeders were very concerned, however, when Grace’s head came out. “Her face was purple. We were so frightened something was wrong with her,” Andrea said.
They’ve since found out this is normal, but at the time Andrea pushed as hard as she could.
Almost in unison, help arrived and so did Grace. “Everybody got here all at once,” Andrea, laughed.
Engineer Jack Bailey and Engineer/Paramedic Ron Bray of the Independence Township Fire Department were the first to arrive on the scene.
“We walked in the door and it didn’t take long,” Bray said. “We really didn’t do anything to assist in the delivery. We cleaned the baby off, tied the cord and transported her to the hospital. We didn’t do anything spectacular.”
“The baby delivered herself,” Acting Captain Dave Stover said, who was also at the Schroeder’s home, along with colleagues Phil Williams and Don Herbert.
So much was happening, so quickly, it wasn’t until nearly five minutes after the birth, the Schroeders realized they didn’t know whether they just had a baby boy or baby girl. “It all happened so fast,” Andrea said.
The Schroeders, who have lived in Clarkston for nine and a half years and been married 12 years, had sent their other two children to the neighbors. But six-and-a-half-year-old Luke and nine-year-old Maggie came by to see that mom and sister were all right before they were transported to the hospital.
Of course, there were jokes of what the baby’s name should be. Flora was considered, as an ode to the kitchen floor. Then Kit, short for kitchen. And then there was Julia Child Schroeder. But Andrea said, “she’s had enough drama in her little life.”
Mark and Andrea want to thank all the responding emergency personnel.
“They were great. Thank God they got here right here when they did,” Andrea said. “And thank God we didn’t get in the car. Grace would’ve been born somewhere along I-75.” Jokingly, she added, “And thank God (the birth) was on the hard wood floor and not on the carpet.”
“It’s rewarding to help out with something like that,” Bray said. This was his first assistance on a delivery during his nine years on the job. “It’s typically on the other end where an older person passes away.” In fact, Bray said, there were two deaths the Fire Department responded to that same weekend. “The bad days outweigh the good, but the good days make it all worth it. This kind of stuff doesn’t happen often, but when it does it sets a different tone.”
Stover agreed, “It was a real nice run.”
“Congrats to mom and dad,” Bray said. “We’re glad we can help. That’s what we’re here for.”