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The last thing a woman in labor wants to do is bypass the elevator in favor of the stairs. But after the cautionary tale of Katie Thacker, who got stuck in an elevator at St. Joseph Medical Center in Tacoma, Wash., on Wednesday, it’s something to consider.
Fortunately, Thacker was accompanied in the elevator car by her midwife and a nurse, and they sprang into action to deliver a baby boy while suspended somewhere between the 12th and 14th floors. Meanwhile, dad Luke Thacker — waiting on the 14th floor for the doors to open — performed an amazing feat of his own: he shimmied down to the stuck elevator and snipped his son’s umbilical cord.
The baby’s actual name is Blake Michael Thacker, but for now, he’s earned the nickname “Otis” after the Otis Elevator company. Thacker’s otherworldly delivery comes just days after a N.J. woman delivered her baby on a commuter train to Manhattan. On Wednesday, I wrote about what seems to be an increasingly common phenomenon. You can read all about these weird deliveries — and why labor is so unpredictable — here.