Mother makes express delivery on the Rich

  • Published
  • By Airman 1st Class Nora Anton
  • 354th Fighter Wing Public Affairs
EIELSON AIR FORCE BASE, Alaska --  "I thought for sure I had plenty of time to get to the Bassett Army Community Hospital and enjoy a nice leisurely labor with an epidural," said Lisa O'Quinn.

Such was not the case 2:30 a.m. Aug. 27 when Mrs. O'Quinn, wife of Maj. James O'Quinn, 354th Contracting Squadron commander, went into labor and in less than 50 minutes gave birth to their third child in the front seat of her husband's truck while passing through North Pole.

"I told James I would meet him down at the truck, but by the time I was in the driveway the labor pains were already around five minutes apart and extremely painful," she said.

The O'Quinns have two other children, a 14-year-old son, Cameron and a 10-year-old-daughter, Maggie.

"My other labors where 12 and eight hours respectively, but with this labor I went from absolutely no labor pains at all to intense labor in a matter of minutes," said Mrs. O'Quinn.

Things were moving too fast, she said.

"So I stripped off my pants, took off the seatbelt, hitched my leg up on the dashboard and told him the baby was coming."

"I kept telling her she had to wait until we were at the hospital," said Maj. O'Quinn. "Then it all just happened."

"By the time we passed the North Pole exit [on the Richardson Highway] I felt the baby's head crown, I pushed once and out she came!" she said. "She cried right away so we knew she was doing well."

Mrs. O'Quinn said she was acting out of instinct when delivering her own baby.

"I never felt endangered--right away I pulled her to my chest and felt very calm and relieved."

Maj. O'Quinn said that when they passed through Fort Wainwright's front gate he hardly stopped and was speeding towards the emergency room. Almost immediately he said the post's security police were chasing him down.

"I'll never forget the look on the cop's face when she saw me sitting there with no pants on, an umbilical cord connecting me to a newly born baby and both of us covered in vernix and blood," she mused. "She ran off to the ER to get more help."

Lillie O'Quinn weighed in at 7 lbs 13 oz. and measured 18 inches long.
Her birth certificate lists North Pole as her official birth place.

"The funny thing is that I originally planned her middle name to be 'Fairbanks', but I guess she didn't want that--and no her middle name isn't 'North Pole', it's McKenna."