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Family home together after couple delivers baby near highway while headed to hospital

Family of newborn born on side of road
Posted at 8:41 PM, Jul 29, 2022
and last updated 2022-07-29 21:41:48-04

OVERLAND PARK, Kan. — A baby boy in Overland Park, Kansas, wasn't waiting for the hospital to make his debut into the world.

"The accidental blessing," Molly Kavanagh said. "He's had his own way since the very beginning."

When Molly went into labor, her husband Justin Finn planned to drive the expecting mom to the hospital.

"My water broke, I said, 'Let's go, let's get in the car.' And he was speeding as fast as he could," Kavanagh said.

Finn explained what was going through his mind at the time.

"You know a tone in your spouse's voice when you've kind of pushed the limit, and so I knew that," Finn said. "[On the] next tone, she said, 'Pull over he's coming.' There was no wiggle room."

Molly and Justin never made it to the hospital. Their baby boy was born along Mission Road near Interstate 435. They named him Jack.

"Within 30 minutes, basically it all happened so fast and I was not expecting it all," Kavanagh said.

The couple said the experience of having two other children helped them remain calm during the earlier than expected delivery.

However, Molly and Justin were on guard for possible health issues with their newborn.

Their four-year-old daughter was born with heart issues and their two-year-old daughter was in the NICU to monitor her oxygen levels.

"You look for certain things and he was good," Finn said. "He gave a little welp, yelp when he was in my arms. I put him in Molly's chest and he started crying. It was really cool to see the motherly instinct takeover, because she looked at me with just the utter most confidence and said 'He's ok, he's good.'"

This story was originally published by KSHB in Kansas City, Missouri.