When it comes to babies, you can have all the birth plans in the world, but when that baby is ready to make his or her entrance, sometimes those plans go right out the window. Here are 15 of the most unusual places women have given birth.
On a Navy aircraft carrier
This isn’t exactly what you think of when you think of water births, but it happened in the Persian Gulf, so we suppose it qualifies as one to some degree. This month a Navy sailor, who says she had no idea she was pregnant, gave birth right there onboard the aircraft carrier USS Dwight D. Eisenhower. The little girl was reportedly healthy and weighed in at seven pounds.
In an Uber car
It was near the Lincoln Tunnel in New York that a woman’s water broke in the back of an Uber car. The driver quickly jumped into action and helped bring the baby into the world.
On an airplane
Ada Guan didn’t even know she was pregnant when she hopped on a flight from Calgary, Canada, to Tokyo. Before she landed, she was a mom.
At a strip club
In December 2014, a woman was en route to the hospital when her baby just couldn’t wait to see the world. The closest place to stop was the parking lot of Déjà Vu strip club, and the kid has quite a conversation starter for life.
In the post office
Talk about a special delivery. Mom Sonia Marina Nascimento stopped in to do business at her local post office and left with a baby in November of 2009.
At her own wedding
Talk about a double whammy. A woman in western France went into labor and had her baby while she was saying “I do.”
In a tree
It happened in Mozambique in 2000, when Sofia Pedro climbed a tree as floodwaters rose. Mom and baby were rescued by a helicopter.
At the zoo
This was one wild birth. In 2012, a woman gave birth to a baby girl right by the bear exhibit at the Rosamond Gifford Zoo in Syracuse, New York.
On the subway
In June of 2012, Wanda Dueno was heading to her sister’s house on the subway. Before her stop, she gave birth to a baby boy by herself, right there on the J train.
Right outside of the hospital
She was so close, but Amy Beth Cavaretta just couldn’t get inside the hospital before her second child arrived. She was about to walk through the hospital’s front doors when she realized she just couldn’t go any further, and her daughter was delivered safely outside.
At Walmart
Natalie Portman did it in Where the Heart Is, and more than a few women in real life have done so as well. In 2013, four babies were born in Walmart stores across the United States, and there have been more since.
In a Dollar General Store
A baby girl arrived nearly three months early when her mother went into labor outside a Dollar General store in Athens, Tennessee. A woman passing by saw her in distress, and got everything she needed to deliver the baby safely from the store’s shelves.
In a helicopter
As a refugee was being transported in a Greek air force helicopter, she went into labor. Fortunately, there was a doctor on the flight, and all ended well.
At the Vatican
In January 2016, a homeless woman gave birth in Vatican City, near St. Peter’s Square. After learning of the event, the pontiff offered the woman and her baby a place to stay for a year.
Amtrak train
It was a typical Saturday afternoon train ride for Sheera Lowe as she headed into New York — until she realized she was going into labor. With the help of a fellow passenger, she gave birth right there on board the Amtrak train.
In Sam’s Club
A woman shopping at Sam’s Club in Fayetteville, Arkansas, left with more than an economy-size package of paper towels when she unexpectedly went into labor. Both mother and son were said to be healthy after the unexpected arrival, but no word whether the little guy or girl was named Sam.
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