Baby girl makes surprise entrance into world

If there was a time for a practical joke, this wasn't it.

In the bathroom of her apartment Thursday night, Samemia "Sam" Twiggs used one hand to dial the phone and the other to hold her baby's head out of the toilet water.

She told her next-door neighbor and cousin Keiuna Twiggs that she was in labor and needed to go to the hospital.

"You're playing," Keiuna said, and hung up.

Sam dialed the number again. This time her cousin believed her, but it was still too late.

After two quick pushes, Twiggs' 6-pound baby girl arrived to the world before paramedics could arrive at the door.

Twiggs said she had been having what she believed to be contractions for a few days, but her due date was still two weeks away.

"I just felt like I was having a bowel movement, so I sat on the toilet and then her head came out," said Twiggs. "I was shocked and scared."

She gave birth at around 11:45 p.m. Thursday.

When her cousin came in, Twiggs was able to stand up. She pushed twice and the baby fell into her cousin's hands. There was a moment of panic when the baby didn't cry and began to turn blue. Twiggs tried to clean the baby's mouth out using her finger, and then she finally cried for a few seconds.

Paramedics arrived shortly after, cut the umbilical cord and took both Twiggs and her baby, later named Ty'zhonia', to Saint Francis Medical Center.

The girl weighed 6 pounds, 2 ounces and was 19.5 inches long. Except for low body temperature when she arrived at the hospital, Ty'zhonia' was fine, said Twiggs.

She has two other children, but said this labor was much different from past experiences.

Donna Watkins, office manager for Twiggs' obstetrician Dr. Paul Clark, said labor can go faster the more children you have.

"But I think it's very uncommon that this happens," said Watkins.

When induced, delivery usually takes around six hours, she said. Watkins said she has experienced babies born in an ambulance or at hospitals that don't normally do deliveries, but never in a home without medical care.

With two weeks left until her scheduled due date, Twiggs said she was not prepared with diapers and other supplies yet.

"My family is calling her the toilet baby, but I say I don't think so," said Twiggs.

cmiller@semissourian.com

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