By Bill McGrath
Niagara Gazette
SANBORN —
At 11:30 p.m. Tuesday, Stacey McKie told her husband, Jason, the baby was on the way. Due the day before, mom had her bags packed and ready for a trip to Eastern Niagara Hospital-Lockport.
Jason grabbed 3-year-old Lily and strapped the toddler in the car seat. However, Stacey told him there was no time, contractions were coming more quickly, and the baby was on the way.
Mom and dad went back in the house. Dad called 911, and seven minutes later, Jake Michael McKie was born.
“When the EMT came in, he was in my hands,” dad said. Jason delivered the couple’s 9-pound, 12 once son just before midnight.
Lily, a new big sister, was still in the car seat.
“I had an array of emotions,” Jason said. “I wanted to stay calm and I wondered, ‘Can I do this right?’ ”
Stacey said she was a little scared. “It was so fast, there was no time to think,” she said. “Jason was extremely calm.”
The EMT cut the umbilical cord, and the McKies were off to the hospital.
“The baby, mom, dad, and little sister, Lily are all doing fine,” said Jason’s mother, Joan Hutchinson. “Jason called, and I had a hard time comprehending. It was surreal. It’s not a normal thing. I didn’t sleep. It’s a shock. I’m so proud of Stacey and Jason. The baby came without warning.”
The McKie family lives on Lockport Road in Sanborn. Jason is an iron worker, and Stacey teaches English Language Arts and Social Studies at St. Peter’s Lutheran School.
“We were lucky we didn’t get back in the car or the baby would have been born on the side of the road,” Jason said.
The grandparents are Mark and Joan Hutchinson and Walt and Barb Sattelburg. Grandma Barb was babysitting Lily on Wednesday.
