By 1:35 in the morning 2 Saturdays ago, Troy Dickerson had left his Rosenberg home and found himself speeding past the Sweetwater and Williams Trace exits on the far-left lane of the Southwest Fwy. while his wife Kristin, who was sitting in the passenger seat, let out a series of screams to work her way through waves of contractions. Almost exactly a half-hour later, their baby, Truett, was born while his mom stood outside the family’s white Toyota pickup, which was by then parked in the valet drop-off area of the Women’s Pavilion at Texas Children’s Hospital, at 6621 Fannin St. in the Med Center (where, perhaps incidentally, the mother works as a childbirth educator).
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Fortunately for all in this news cycle, the entire adventure was caught on video taken by the baby’s dad with the GoPro camera strapped to his head. Excerpts of it were shown in the Dickerson’s local news appearance last week, but you can watch the whole high-speed late-night ride (almost all of it) and delivery (well, hear it at least — less than a minute of the baby’s first appearance is politely “censored” with a freeze-frame) in the Youtube video Dickerson posted shortly after the story aired — and which sparked a second round of reports from gawk-hungry reporters working for national outlets. (Some of those reports, however, leave out links to the Dickersons’ more extensive Tour-de-Houston opus). You can watch Dickerson’s own annotated high-speed head-cam 59 freeway-to-parenthood effort from start to start above. Mom, dad, baby, siblings, and GoPro are all doing just fine.
- Mother gives birth in front of Texas hospital [Click2Houston]
- Dad-to-Be Films Wife in Labor While Speeding to Hospital at 95 MPH [ABC News]
Video: Troy Dickerson
Crazy reckless. How many hospitals, clinics, urgent care facilities, etc., did this guy pass on his way from Rosenberg to the TMC ?
You got time to strap a GoPro to your noggin, but don’t have the wherewithal to find a suitable, alternate location close to your own home ?
Going to be a great Father…
c.l.: Perhaps the wife’s obstetrician works out of TMC and not the closest suburban hospital?
c.l.: There is Methodist Hospital at Sweetwater and 59 with an emergency room. This guy is a fool. lukily they’re all still alive.
Having my baby
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What a lovely way of GoProin’ down the freeway for you
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Having my baby
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I’m a woman in love and I love that you’re speedin’ for me
I hope they use this video as proof of reckless endangerment. There were several hospitals on the way which he could have stopped in. Perhaps he’s using this video as proof that his wife puts out?
I’m not going to do this guy the favor of doing another “view” to his video but I’ll say this:
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What an idiot. He should be arrested. I get speeding with a wife in labor but I also know there is quite a delay between when labor starts and when – whoops – here is the baby. It’s not like the movies.
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But the biggest issue is this dumbass desides to FILM the whole thing? The attention is more important to him than getting his wife and child safely to the hospital?
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And I don’t care where his “desired” hospital is. If the baby is that close to birth that you have to recklessly drive that far (of course taking time to film the event) then stop at a closer hospital.
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Good luck with luck with life truett. I think you’ll need it :(
Gross…as a courtesy, I don’t post vids of me panting and wheezing while rushing home with a severe bout of beer shits. Would appreciate the same with your baby incident.
I feel bad for that kid. The next 20 years of family thanksgiving dinners will be elaborate discussions about that time mom delivered a kid on a city sidewalk.
Cody has the right idea. One of the easiest, best things we can do to improve the world every day is to ignore idiots seeking attention.
Ugh, couldn’t this family have stayed home and had a typical, dolphin-assisted birth in the privacy of their own bathtub filled with kombucha, like normal people?
I don’t have any complaints about them. But I was surprised a L&D hospital took so long to get someone out there. The security guys looked dumbfounded. Surely it is not unexpected for a woman not to get to the L&D floor on time?
@Cody – Hop off your high horse. He strapped the GoPro to his head when her water broke at home (which, is unusual — this usually happens at the hospital after going into labor for a few hours) and forgot about the GoPro until the baby had come out — I know this on good account. And since it was her 3rd child, the labor progressed MUCH quicker than her first and second and was obviously not all that predictable, even for a childbirth educator.
Well, I’m not gonna watch the video,either. It seems quite irresponsible.
Congratulations!. Good Job!
The GoPro is a bit much, but you guys are unrealistic on what people can predict regarding labor. While the first birth can take a very long time to progress, subsequent births can progress rapidly. I have a few friends that barely had 20-30 minutes from the time labor kicked in until the birth of the baby. It can catch you by surprised.
Glad the mom, baby, and dad are all safe and doing well.
pizzalove: I remember when my wife’s water broke. I came right home, we got our bag (ready to go) into the car and headed to the hospital (route programmed to memory).
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The LAST thing in my mind was “let me strap a gopro to my head”. And if the baby was literately coming out, the furthest thing from my mind would be “let me drive 100mph for 30 minutes to go to this specific hospital”.
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I don’t mean to sound like I’m on a high horse — this just seems beyond stupid.
If only there were some simple phone number you could call where speedy professionals could be summoned to come help you in a medical emergency.