BRANDON - Christine Stallworth had experienced false labor before so she decided to ignore the contractions she was feeling Thursday as she and her husband Clifford drove their two boys from home in Plant City to school in Tampa.
But this time, 10 days away from mom's due date, there was nothing false about it. The contractions grew heavier, and so did the traffic.
"We just had to put on our hazards and started honking the horn," said Clifford Stallworth, 29. "We called the police and they had said they weren't going to be able to get to us in time. And that's when I just put my GPS in for Tampa General and it said we were four minutes away."
Four minutes away, that is, from Tampa General Hospital's Brandon outpatient center, which has none of the birthing features of the main hospital in Tampa. In the end, it didn't matter anyway: Christine Stallworth, 29, never made it inside, giving birth in the parking lot of the Tampa General Hospital Brandon Healthplex.
The first thing baby Janine laid eyes on in life was the interior of the family's black, 2011 Volvo S80.
Torn between signalling for the staff at the center and helping his wife through active labor, dad held the baby through the delivery with just Zijon, 6, and Preston, 5, at his side. It took only a few minutes.
"I just remember supporting her head and her coming with wide arms and hugging me as soon as she came out," he said. "She had the biggest arms in the world."
Mom and baby were transported to the neonatal unit at Tampa General Hospital and are doing fine. Janine weighed in at 6 lbs., 8 oz.
On Friday, the family was still trying to process the turn of events but praised the staff of Tampa General for their help. They also were grateful to have their baby girl with them before the holidays.
"She was an early gift for Christmas and boy was it a surprise," said Christine Stallworth, a teacher at the Harvest Time Christian School her sons attend. "We couldn't have asked for anything better."
Contact Katelyn Massarelli at kmassarelli@tampabay.com