'A miracle': Palm Coast woman gives birth roadside on her way to Flagler Hospital

Given her high-risk pregnancy, Isis Davis couldn’t take any chances delivering her first child, so she patiently awaited July 13, the day she was scheduled to be induced.

But the morning of June 25, she started feeling cramps.

Davis called her doula, Tabatha Seppala, and told her about the pain. When Seppala arrived at her house soon after, she knew something was wrong.

A few hours later, Seppala, Davis and Davis' husband, Anthony, found themselves at the intersection of U.S. 1 and State Road 206 with baby Akovi Davis in their hands, in a happy ending to a story that could have ended tragically, Seppala said.

In an interview with The News-Journal, Seppala recounted what happened during the unforgettable day.

Her company, The Doula Network, assigned her to Davis approximately three weeks ago, when the expectant mother was 33 weeks along and requested a doula.

Davis has a “significant health” history, which involves a protein S deficiency related to a blood-clotting disorder, which requires her to be on blood thinners.

Protein S is one of many natural anticoagulants. Its deficiency in the body leads to blood clots forming more easily.

The original plan, Seppala said, was to have Davis induced for labor at Flagler Hospital on July 13.

“Because she is a 30-year-old first-time mother, she already had age as a factor placing her in that high-risk position,” Seppala said. “Then we incorporate her clotting disorder and her being on blood thinners, and it increases her risk of hemorrhage … This story is a miracle.”

Seppala had just visited Davis for the second time June 22 when they reviewed the plans for the baby’s upcoming birth.

“Everything was on course and looking to be that she would deliver when they induced her,” Seppala said.

‘Something out of a movie’

When Seppala first arrived at Davis' home June 25, she didn't think her client was going into labor.

When she entered Davis' bedroom, however, she could tell just by the look on her face that she was in fact in labor.

After the expectant mother started complaining about some contraction pain, Seppala, who also has a birth assistance practice and is studying to be a midwife, said she performed a cervical exam on Davis, at which point she determined the baby’s head was already crowning.

“So I said, ‘We really need to go,’” Seppala said.

The race to Flagler Hospital in St. Augustine (approximately 23 miles away) began and tension was high, she said, when the couple realized their car did not have enough gas for the trip.

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Seppala then took Davis in her own car (which is typically prohibited due to liability reasons) and headed toward the hospital.

“At this point, protocol is kind of going out the window,” she said. “I’m recognizing this is a preterm delivery, all of the health factors that are coming into play with this person, and I wanted to make sure she got the best opportunity to get the care she needed.”

They got onto U.S. 1 and made it to a red light at the intersection with State Road 206, about halfway to the hospital, when Davis told her, “I think I need to push.”

“And then her water breaks,” Seppala said.

She pulled over to the shoulder, opened the backseat door, and saw the top of the baby’s head.

Another couple pulled over and offered to help by buying gloves at a nearby store and calling medical services.

When Davis' husband arrived on scene, she made one final push and her baby was born, Seppala said.

“I don’t even know how to describe it,” she said. “It was truly something out of a movie.”

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After her doula placed the baby into her arms, Davis immediately started feeling better.

“It was a lot of emotion at that moment,” Davis said in an interview. “I was in shock. I was like, ‘I just had him literally on the side of the road.’ I was just dumbfounded that I actually did that.”

A few days later, waiting to be discharged from the hospital, Davis said she was still processing everything.

“I’m just sitting here wowing everything,” Davis said. “I’m in love with him, his little face, his hands.”

Her son, Akovi, was born prematurely at 36 weeks; he was 5 pounds and 19.5 inches long and is doing “OK.”

She thanked Seppala, her husband, and the bystanders who helped them on the street, all without whom she “could not have done it.”

Davis said part of the reason she wanted to share her story is because the only hospitals offering childbirth care near her Palm Coast home are at least 30 minutes away.

The closest labor and delivery services available to those in the Palm Coast area are at Flagler Hospital in St. Augustine, Halifax Health's Center for Women-Infant Health in Daytona Beach and AdventHealth Daytona Beach.

She thanked St. Johns County's medical services team for getting to scene as quickly as they did, even though the “difficult” part had already been done.

“That is what I wanted for Palm Coast,” said Davis, who is a lifelong resident of the Flagler County city. “There’s nothing really for (expectant) moms, and I live there. Why do I have to drive 30 to 40 minutes just to have my son, when I am high-risk and a first-time mom not knowing what the heck was going on?”

She said she was “scared the entire time” from the moment she began feeling the contractions to the moment her son was born.

“I would love to see a labor and delivery, or just a birthing center, in Palm Coast for every single woman who wants to have a baby in Palm Coast,” Davis said. “We need that kind of recognition and that kind of service in Palm Coast.”

AdventHealth's second Palm Coast unit is anticipated to open in August, but the hospital does not have plans to add labor and delivery services yet, according to spokeswoman Lindsay Cashio.

The reason behind the decision, Cashio told The News-Journal in an email, has to do with Palm Coast's demographic makeup.

"Over the past decade, Flagler County has experienced an increase in the number of individuals aged 65 and older," Cashio wrote. "Expanding our services to include a labor and delivery unit would require a substantial increase in the number of young people of child-bearing age in Flagler County, as a unit with low patient volumes could compromise the quality of care."

Despite the difficulty, Davis said she has plans to have another child.

“I would love to see a birthing center that can support other women who live in Palm Coast as well.”

Davis and her husband set up a GoFundMe campaign to help them with their son's medical costs.

This article originally appeared on The Daytona Beach News-Journal: Palm Coast woman gives birth roadside on her way to Flagler Hospital