Did you read about Opera Singer Emily Hardman from Briarcliff Manor, NY? She gave birth to her baby daughter ‘Rosemary Claire’ in the back seat of a Honda Accord a minute after telling her husband Travis to ‘pull over’ on a highway in New Jersey to which he responded, “I can’t pull over it’s a death trap.” Imagine? Just talking about this freaks me out but Emily was prepared! Kinda. Seems there’s an app for that! LOL
Emily is a super talented opera singer who majors in ‘breathing’, a value-added birthing skill that sure came in handy. Luckily her cool calm collected driver husband Travis Hardman, the CEO of The Daily Voice, majors in handling big picture challenges. Both join me to recap this crazy nerve-wracking and ultimately happy story.
Any woman who’s given birth ‘naturally’ will tell you it’s no picnic. (Understatement). Take it from this Momma who went the natural birthing route for my one and only child. I vividly remember spitting out ice chips onto the floor of the maternity ward like torpedoes and yelling for last minute drugs. Natural birth usually takes ‘a while’. (Understatement).
Emily who had a C-section first time around with her son Wesley now almost 3, had been preparing her mind and body for this long haul natural birth for 3 years. Getting herself in shape, hiring a doula, pretty much planning out well in advance how it would all go. (If she had just hired a psychic she could have saved on the doula just sayin.)
So here’s the summary. The happy couple attend a wedding near Lancaster, PA, five hours away from Danbury Hospital in CT where the delivery was planned down the road (vs on the road). They had planned everything out with the midwives from the Connecticut Childbirth and Womens Center.
They rent a hotel room in PA for after the wedding. They dance the night away and get back to the hotel at 11pm. They pass out by 11:30pm. At midnight Emily’s water breaks but she didn’t panic because she’s been told how long these natural births take and she goes back to sleep. (I’d have hijacked a plane) At 3am her contractions are more intense and she wakes up her husband and they end up leaving the hotel around 4am.
Emily’s laid out in the back seat of the Honda Accord next to their sons’ car seat and she’s breathing along with her ‘Gentle Birth Meditation app’ which recently added a contraction timer when… uh oh and oh no. There was less than a minute between “Pull Over” and “There’s a baby!”
The 911 help came within 5-10 minutes as did the emergency ICU unit just in case. In between they got their doula on the phone to walk them through the most harrowing part of the scene which was when the baby’s umbilical cord snapped. (I could pass out from the stress of just reading what I’m typing)
All’s now well with the Hardmans’ and they’re a beautiful happy family ‘of four now happily moving on. I hope you enjoy listening to their recap today about the birth of Rosemary Claire at Milepost 20.2 on Route 78 in Lebanon PA. It’s on her birth certificate listed as place of birth. LOL Also on the certificate is who delivered the baby…MOM.
One last side note: It’s not been proven scientifically yet but I’m betting dancing causes birth. (Sometime it also causes pregnancy but hey that’s another story.)
Here’s The Link to The Original Daily Voice Story That Sparked This Interview.
All Photo Permissions Given By the Hardman Family
Here’s Emily’s Opera Web Page (Emily Geller is her Stage Name) Besides roadside delivery she’s well known in the Opera world for her ‘comic delivery’.
