Woman gives birth in EDSA traffic jam

MANILA, Philippines — It is a common joke among motorists that a woman could give birth while stuck in EDSA’s traffic jams.

Cheoui de Leon can attest that it’s no joke after she gave birth to a baby girl on Saturday night as they were stuck in  “horrible traffic” on EDSA while on their way to a hospital along Kamuning Road in Quezon City.

De Leon said it took them more than 30 to 40 minutes to get from San Juan City to Dr. Jesus C. Delgado Memorial Hospital.

 “What a crazy and very memorable experience. The horrible traffic in EDSA made me give birth on the road,” De Leon said in her Facebook post as she recalled how she managed to give birth inside their car. 

 De Leon said their baby, who weighed four pounds and eight ounces, was named Sabrina Leaouis but their relatives and friends suggested names like “Karla, Carmina, Via and Epiphania” because of the incident.  

 She told The STAR Karla and Carmina mean “car” while Via is for the brand of their vehicle (Vios) while Epiphania is the female version of Epifanio as she was born along Epifanio Delos Santos Avenue (EDSA).   

 “She’s okay and healthy, although advised to take antibiotics for five days since mataas po white blood cells niya,” she said.  

 De Leon’s baby shower was cut short when she felt contractions that gradually became only two to three minutes apart. Her obstetrician-gynecologist told her to go to the hospital immediately.

  De Leon said her father advised them to take EDSA, where they got stuck in traffic, prompting her fiance Luis Bernabe to keep honking and pressing the hazard lights as she was shaking from the pain.

 She said the drivers of some buses and cars did not let them pass. 

 “After a U-turn on EDSA going to Kamuning, I started to feel that the baby was already crowning! I tried to stay composed by breathing deeply, but hell, it hurts so much I started to shout,” she said. 

 De Leon said she wanted to bear down and push, but her fiance – who recently passed the board exams for nursing – told her to breathe deeply and hold on.

 She said she could no longer tolerate the pain and delivered the baby before they got to the ramp of the hospital’s emergency room as her fiance held the baby’s head. 

“Luis was able to catch her just in time when we stopped. I held her in my arms and she started to cry,” she added. 

A funny moment, she said, took place when Luis came out of the vehicle while carrying their baby and asked the security guard to call a nurse.

“He didn’t know what to do, like get a wheelchair, come to me, call the nurse or the doctor,” De Leon said.