PARKER, Colo. — A former 9NEWS employee is used to helping in the newsroom, but now she and her new son are making the news.
Caitlin Kingsbury worked behind the scenes at 9NEWS for about seven years. On Wednesday, she and her husband Cole Kingsbury welcomed their third son on the side of E-470.
"It was not the birth plan, but it worked out," Caitlin joked Thursday night.
The actual birth plan was pretty simple.
The couple had delivered their two older children at Sky Ridge Medical Center, with an OBGYN they loved. But they had moved north — to Windsor — before baby number three came along. Even with the distance, they stayed with the same doctor and hospital.
Just like her two previous deliveries, Caitlin was planning to be induced with her third child, and the whole family was staying with Cole's parents in Littleton, to be closer to the hospital ahead of delivery.
"We had it all planned out," she said. "My [older] son's first day of school. Our younger son's first meet and greet of preschool. [Then] we were going to come down, have dinner, get them to bed and have a baby."
They had to make a short trip back to Windsor on Wednesday, ahead of her scheduled induction the next day.
"After the meet and greet, we stopped by [the] house for a little bit and Caitlin wasn’t feeling too good, but she didn’t think it was labor," Cole remembers. "She was laying down to rest, tried to take a bath, after the bath decided — this was real contractions — we've got to get going."
It was late afternoon when the family of four hit the road, just in time for rush hour.
"We got in the car, contractions were going every three minutes. I'm timing them as I'm driving," Cole said. "Then, about 15 minutes out, Caitlin tells me — my water just broke."
"When my water broke, I said, 'We need to pull over right now,'" Caitlin remembered.
They dialed 911 on speakerphone, where South Metro Fire Rescue (SMFR) Dispatcher Conner Blinzler directed first responders to meet the family near E-470 and Parker Road. Blinzler then walked the parents through the next steps of delivery.
Minutes later, Caitlin gave birth in the front seat, as Cole "caught" the baby.
"I open the door, see the head, we're still on the phone with 911 dispatcher. He says, 'If he's coming out, grab head and butt because he'll be really slippery!'" Cole said.
"I don't even know if there was two pushes, but there was at least one push and the baby was born. You could hear it start crying," Blinzler says in a video recorded by SMFR. "[There was a] sigh of relief from both mom and dad."
At 5:50pm Wednesday, Aug.14, Cale Kingsbury made his grand entrance on the side of the road.
"Six minutes away [from the hospital], when we had to stop," Cole said. "Hour and a half drive, and six minutes away."
"I just couldn't keep him in," Caitlin added.
Meanwhile, the couple's two older children were still in the backseat!
"The 6-year-old, he was trying to pep talk me the whole time," Caitlin said. "Like, 'You got this mommy!' But he's also crying a little bit because he's scared."
First responders arrived soon after to assist and transport the family to the hospital, where the Kingsburys finally met up with their doctor.
The Kingsbury family says Caitlin and the baby are both doing well — and Cole and the older brothers are just starting to catch their breath!
The family stayed an extra day in the hospital and went back home to Windsor on Friday morning.
"Everyone who helped us has been so incredible," Caitlin said. "And we're just so thankful for their kindness and what they did for us."
"Even the best plans can fall apart. You just have to make due and make it work!" Cole added.
Blinzler, the dispatcher, was able to visit the family in the hospital.
"It's just something that brings a lot of joy to what we do," he explains in a video provided by SMFR. "Being able to come full circle [to] meet the family and see what I helped do truly is rewarding."
