Marengo woman gives birth to son on tollway
The commute from Trevor Farina's home in Marengo to Advocate Sherman Hospital in Elgin is typically a 35-minute drive. Early Monday morning — the day of his son's birth — he made it there in 20 minutes.
It still wasn't fast enough.
Trevor's wife, Beth Farina, 24, gave birth to her third son by herself in a moving car while Trevor, 22, was driving on Interstate 90 to the hospital.
“I was pretty calm,” Beth said Tuesday from her hospital room. “I just did what I had to do.”
Beth woke up about 1 a.m. Monday having contractions, but initially didn't think anything of them. By 4:30 a.m., the contractions had worsened, so she told Trevor it might be time to go to the hospital.
The couple left home a little after 5:30 a.m., after Trevor's mother arrived to look after their older sons, ages 2 and 3.
It wasn't long before Beth warned Trevor that they needed to hurry. She could feel the baby coming.
“This is my third child, so I know what it feels like,” Beth said. “Very soon, I knew we were not going to make it to the hospital.”
Trevor said he called 911 at about 5:50 a.m., when they were about a mile from the hospital. Beth told him not to stop the car.
“(The paramedics) asked me where I was pulled over,” Trevor said. “I told them I wasn't pulled over; I was going to get to the hospital.”
The next thing he knew, Beth had given birth and was holding their newborn son to her chest.
“When we got to the hospital, he was totally out and crying,” Trevor said.
Once they pulled up to the emergency room entrance, Beth said, the rest was a blur.
Both Beth and her newborn son, Tobias, are in the hospital, safe and healthy. Though she is still tired, she and her family are happy.
What helped Beth stay calm was her childbirth training and experience, she said. She is studying to be a certified nurse-midwife, and her mother, Eileen Chapuis of Elgin, used to teach childbirth classes.
“So I've been around a lot of people who have known what they were doing,” Beth said.
The couple's calm and collected nature allowed them to remain levelheaded through the stressful morning, Chapuis said.
“They are the most laid back husband and wife and parents that I know,” she said. “I think that really helped them in this situation.”
But despite outward appearances, Trevor said he was panicking.
“I think I was more terrified than (Beth) was,” he said. “She seemed pretty calm about the whole situation. She just did what she had to do.”
Now that the chaos has finally calmed down, Trevor said he is glad Tobias' birth happened the way it did.
“Obviously it wasn't planned, but everything turned out good,” he said. “We have a story to tell for the rest of our lives.”