Happy end to speedy delivery

Anthony LoCascio and his wife, Layna, pose with 21-month-old Annabella and newborn Sophia. The LoCascios delivered Sophia in the family van Friday during a trip to Central DuPage Hospital.

It's a story that's been asked of Anthony LoCascio and his wife a dozen times during the last few days, and one that'll be repeated for years to come.

The Carol Stream couple is still coming to grips with the whirlwind weekend delivery of the LoCascio family's newborn daughter just a few short blocks away from Central DuPage Hospital in Winfield.

"It's not the way I wanted it to happen," LoCascio said. "Nobody wants to deliver in a car."

Much less the LoCascio family's Mercury van.

But Layna LoCascio, 33, did just that Friday morning.

Sophia Lilliana LoCascio was born weighing in at 5 pounds, 6 ounces.

It took just 15 minutes from the time the LoCascios left their Carol Stream home to watch their daughter come into the world.

The speedy delivery was a stark contrast from the grueling effort Layna went through with her first child, 21-month-old Annabella, who was born after nearly 30 hours of labor.

So when Layna woke up Friday morning with what she described as cramping pains, she expected the episode to pass. She took some Tylenol and tried to rest, but the pain got worse.

By 5:30 a.m., she started to get ready for the trip to the hospital. The couple was out of the house by 7:30 a.m.

"It was just one big contraction that started about five minutes before we left the house," Layna LoCascio said. "It wouldn't let up and all of a sudden I had her in my hands."

Layna wrapped little Sophia in her husband's shirt and walked into the hospital before hospital staff whisked her away.

Both mom and newborn spent the weekend at the hospital and are now comfortably resting back home in Carol Stream.

"If I had to do it again, I'd choose to do it the same way," Layna LoCascio said. "The recovery has been a lot easier. And (Sophia) has been easy as pie. She's my perfect little baby."