Grandmother delivers grandson in Uber on Friday the 13th
WASHINGTON - A bundle of joy could not wait to enter the world in Southeast D.C. Friday morning.
In about five minutes, Baby Kareem was delivered by his grandmother in the backseat of an Uber on South Capitol Street.
“It was kind of scary, but it was good,” said Kareem’s mother, Hillary Kersellius.
Call it a bumpy ride. Even so, the first-time mother was a pro.
“I was calm,” she said.
It all started when the 20-year-old woman decided to share an Uber with her mother Friday morning since they were heading to the same place.
“She had an appointment here at the hospital and I also work here,” said grandmother Demetria Kersellius. “So she came to my house and she just kept complaining that her stomach hurt and I said, ‘Hillary, let me give you some water, put some lemon in it and see what happens.’”
What eventually happened was a surprise delivery at 7:31 a.m. on Friday the 13th.
“We get inside of the Uber and we're traveling up M Street getting ready to make a left onto South Capitol Street, and she says, ‘Mom, the baby's head is here,’ and I look down and sure enough the baby's head was protruding through her leggings,” said Demetria.
Demetria said she asked the Uber driver, George, to pull over. She then called 911.
“She says have your daughter lay down in the backseat, take the leggings off and when I did, the baby was already coming out,” she said. “So I gave him a little pat on his back and he cried.”
“This baby is special because he was born on Friday the 13th,” said Kareem’s aunt, Biana Kersellius. “I like to think so and our family is just fortunate that he is healthy and everything went very fine.”
Doctors and nurses at MedStar Washington Hospital Center are affectionately calling Kareem the “Uber Baby.”
The Uber driver recommended that the family name the baby George after him.
However, in the end, they decided on Kareem, who weighed in at 6 pounds, 5 ounces and measured 20 inches long.