Search on for snow plow driver who rescued mom in labor

(Jonathan Lesage)

A North Carolina couple is looking for the driver of a snowplow who got them to the hospital in time to deliver their son after their truck broke down on an exit ramp.

Stephanie Dawson, of Moyock, woke up at 3:30 a.m. on January 8 with contractions, a week after her due date. She’d planned to deliver at Sentara Princess Anne Hospital, where the 28-year-old is a registered nurse, but the weekend’s snow storm made the normally 40-minute drive a challenge, The Virginian-Pilot reported.

It took her husband, Hugh, 20 minutes to warm up the truck and clear off ice, then, 40 minutes into their drive, Stephanie’s contractions started coming about three minutes apart. Hugh detoured to go to a closer hospital, but the truck died and he pulled over and flagged down a snowplow heading in the opposite direction.

Hugh caught the attention of the driver the couple squeezed into the cab, with three workers from the snow plow team piling into the back seat.

By the time the couple made it to the emergency room, Stephanie’s contractions were 90 seconds apart. Their son, Brayden, was born soon after and weighed 6 pounds, 13 ounces.

“Luckily, if it wasn’t for the plow, we probably would have been having him,” Hugh began telling The Virginian-Pilot, and Stephanie finished, “in the middle of Battlefield Boulevard walking here.”

The Dawsons didn’t get the snow plow driver’s name, but are hoping to get in touch.