ALAMANCE COUNTY, N.C. - Hospitals across the Triad welcomed in new life over the weekend, even during the thick of the snow storm. We met a mother from Burlington, whose baby waited until the snow started falling to arrive.
Patesa Baldwin was expecting her baby girl December 8, before the storm moved in. But, she says, of course, Autumn Ruth had to come, as soon as conditions got dicey.
A mother of two little girls already, Baldwin knows the drill.
"We've been here before – we know what to do," she joked.
But what she wasn't expecting to give birth during a snow storm.
"I said, I hope she don't come when it starts snowing!"
She said, "Because my due date was the 8th, so there wasn't anything going on then. And then coming in Saturday night, I was like, oh my god, she's going to come when it starts snowing! That's what I was thinking – she's going to come at the house!"
After seeing the conditions outside, early Sunday morning, she called an ambulance and rushed to Alamance Regional Hospital, where she gave birth to Autumn Ruth, who was 7 pound, 15 ounces.
"Ruth was my grandma's name," she explained, "She passed away last year."
Autumn's Baldwin's third little girl, but the first in a different way.
"After I had her, the sun was coming up and I saw all that snow on the ground," she said, "And they said – you're the first one to have a baby in the snow!"
Now, mom and baby are happy, and resting, looking forward to a safe trip home on Tuesday.
Autumn wasn't the only snowstorm baby at Alamance Regional, there were 24 babies born between Sunday morning and noon on Monday.
Another special factor, Autumn arrived during the winter snow storm which is technically still in the fall since winter doesn't begin until December 21.
► Make it easy to keep up to date with more stories like this. Download the WFMY News 2 App now
