Baby, it’s cold outside: Colorado Springs parents deliver daughter in subzero temperatures

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (KKTV) - Nicole Namba and Wyatt Gray’s daughter wasn’t due until January 7...

But on the morning of December 22, after about an hour of contractions, Namba knew it was time to go to the hospital. She told 11 News she had not yet packed a hospital bag, and she was unable to take a shower prior to leaving their apartment due to Gray accidentally running the hot water in an attempt to keep the pipes from freezing overnight.

The temperature in Colorado Springs that morning was below 0 degrees Fahrenheit.

Snow and ice came with the low temperatures, and the road conditions made the trip to the hospital 15 minutes longer than normal. Gray said that about eight minutes from the hospital, Namba told him that she had to push.

“At that point, I was asking her you know, ‘Is it OK if you... if you wait? Can we wait? Can we... we’re only eight minutes away’,” Gray said, “and of course she knew better than I did that you cannot hold that up.”

After calling 911, Gray pulled over and walked around to Namba in the passenger seat as the dispatcher talked him through the delivery of his daughter.

“Once I pulled that door open, I saw my baby’s head, and I about dropped to the floor... I’m on my knees, in the snow, in negative 14 degree weather,” Gray said.

Namba and Gray complimented each other on the process, with Gray saying that Namba seemed so confident, it was like she’d done it 100 times before. Namba complimented Gray’s assistance through her delivery.

“By the time he came around the car and opened the door, she was already coming out,” Namba said, “and he ended up being Dr. Daddy, and catching her, and doing such an amazing job.”

After their daughter, Lilly, was born in the passenger seat of her parents’ car at the intersection of N. Union and Family Place, Gray drove the rest of the way to Memorial North, where the couple said nurses flocked them with jackets, hand warmers, and a wheelchair for Namba as soon as they heard what had happened.

“We ran through the whole hospital, and we got upstairs and we finished doing, like, checking on her, making sure everything was good,” Namba said. She added that everything has gone smoothly since: “She’s meeting all her milestones and eating great, and is healthy and everything we can ask for.”

The parents were in the hospital with Lilly for two days before they were able to bring her home to her two older brothers... on Christmas Eve.

“The best present is to have her right before Christmas and actually get to be home on Christmas Day,” Namba said.

But there’s one more gift Namba told Gray she thought they needed: “For Christmas, we need an auto detail.”

The parents said that the hospital gave them the option of listing the intersection Lilly was born at on her birth certificate, and according to them, she’ll be the first person with the cross street of Family Place listed on the document.

Despite the cold, and the location, and the fact that it was weeks early, Namba described Lilly’s entrance to the world as follows: “She came in on her terms, she was ready, she’s not waiting for nothing.”

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