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American Morning
Christmas Surprise
Aired December 27, 2002 - 07:24 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: Well, talk about your Christmas surprises, for Kristen and James Eddins of Newmarket, Maryland, the surprise didn't exactly come wrapped under the tree, but in a bundle in their SUV. When Kristen went into labor a few days early, her fourth child, a baby boy, arrived before they could make it through a snowstorm and get to the hospital.
The proud parents join us now. They are at the hospital, thank goodness, in Frederick, Maryland, with all four of their children. Also with us, Mike Wiles. He's the emergency dispatcher who talked the Eddins' through the experience.
Good morning to the whole gang there.
JAMES EDDINS, WIFE GAVE BIRTH IN SUV: Good morning.
KRISTEN EDDINS, GAVE BIRTH IN SUV: Good morning.
MATT WILES, EMERGENCY DISPATCHER: Good morning.
KAGAN: Kristen, I want to go ahead and start with you. Take us to Christmas Eve, a few days before your due date, and as I understand it with your previous children, you actually were late. So really no reason to expect that this little one would be coming early.
KRISTEN EDDINS: Absolutely. We didn't really think I was going into labor and I just was trying to stave it off because I wanted to be home with the kids for Christmas and lo and behold, I was in labor.
KAGAN: It was time. So it came to a point Christmas Eve where you realized, OK, game is up, need to get in the car and need to go.
KRISTEN EDDINS: Right.
KAGAN: But James actually, I guess the problem is that the weather was really bad. Tell us about driving through the snowstorm with your wife in labor next to you.
JAMES EDDINS: Oh, it was extremely difficult negotiating the icy roads and talking to Mike on the phone. He was an extremely calming influence and, you know, trying to help Kristen as best I could, you know, with her labor. And, but it was extremely difficult. Almost as difficult as this.
KAGAN: Yes, I think you've got a little bit more of a challenge right now. If you want to put them down, go ahead. That's all right.
JAMES EDDINS: Oh, no, we're OK.
KAGAN: All right, we understand.
JAMES EDDINS: We're OK.
KAGAN: All right, Michael...
JAMES EDDINS: They'll tear your equipment apart.
KAGAN: Oh, well, let's not do that then.
All right, let's bring our dispatcher hero in here, Mike, and tell us what it was like to get that phone call.
WILES: Very exciting. It's a high excitement call, definitely a little bit different than anything else because instead of having one person with their life on the line you potentially have two. So it's, it takes on a little bit different challenge.
KAGAN: And you must be answering calls all day long, so was it, at what point when you realized uh-oh, this is not a call like the rest of the night?
WILES: Well, when Mr. Eddins said that his wife -- that he didn't think he was going to make it to the hospital before his baby came, I didn't think it was actually going to be born before the ambulance got there. But then I heard Mrs. Eddins in the background saying, "He's born, he's born!" and then it kind of came to be then.
KAGAN: That kind of brought the story home.
WILES: Yes.
KAGAN: Kristen, take us to that moment. It sounds like this baby kind of birthed himself.
KRISTEN EDDINS: Pretty much. He was on his own game plan. He pretty much just presented himself and there he was and I was like oh my gosh, he's here and what do we do now? We just wanted to be sure he was breathing and when we heard him cry it was the best sound we could have ever have for on Christmas Day.
KAGAN: Just about the best Christmas present.
Maybe we can go ahead and zero in and see the baby a little bit closer. And, Mike, you can tell us exactly what it is you had to tell them to do. The baby got out by himself, but there was something important with the umbilical cord that James had to do.
KRISTEN EDDINS: Yes, actually...
JAMES EDDINS: I think she, that's to you, Mike.
WILES: Well, after the, after we made sure that the baby was breathing, we cleaned, had him clean away the mouth and nose to make sure that he wouldn't aspirate anything, and then wrapped him up to keep him warm and then try and find something he could use to tie off the umbilical cord. Do you know what you used, a shoe string?
JAMES EDDINS: Yes, I grabbed my shoelace and tied it up with that.
KAGAN: Just did what you had to do. Well, it looks like everyone's excited to see a baby brother. What's his name and how much did he weigh?
KRISTEN EDDINS: His name is James Leyton Eddins and he was six pounds, 14 3/4 ounces.
KAGAN: Well, he's absolutely beautiful.
KRISTEN EDDINS: Thank you.
KAGAN: And for the record, not cloned. You did it the old- fashioned way.
KRISTEN EDDINS: No. He's the real thing.
JAMES EDDINS: That's right.
KAGAN: Good for you.
JAMES EDDINS: As you can see, we don't have any problem in that area.
KAGAN: Yes, apparently not. You're doing very well there.
The Eddins family.
Thank you so much.
And also the dispatcher, Mike Wiles.
Good work to everybody on board there and a Merry Christmas.
KRISTEN EDDINS: Thank you.
JAMES EDDINS: Thank you. Happy new year.
KAGAN: Merry Christmas.
Thanks for sharing with us.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Aired December 27, 2002 - 07:24 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: Well, talk about your Christmas surprises, for Kristen and James Eddins of Newmarket, Maryland, the surprise didn't exactly come wrapped under the tree, but in a bundle in their SUV. When Kristen went into labor a few days early, her fourth child, a baby boy, arrived before they could make it through a snowstorm and get to the hospital.
The proud parents join us now. They are at the hospital, thank goodness, in Frederick, Maryland, with all four of their children. Also with us, Mike Wiles. He's the emergency dispatcher who talked the Eddins' through the experience.
Good morning to the whole gang there.
JAMES EDDINS, WIFE GAVE BIRTH IN SUV: Good morning.
KRISTEN EDDINS, GAVE BIRTH IN SUV: Good morning.
MATT WILES, EMERGENCY DISPATCHER: Good morning.
KAGAN: Kristen, I want to go ahead and start with you. Take us to Christmas Eve, a few days before your due date, and as I understand it with your previous children, you actually were late. So really no reason to expect that this little one would be coming early.
KRISTEN EDDINS: Absolutely. We didn't really think I was going into labor and I just was trying to stave it off because I wanted to be home with the kids for Christmas and lo and behold, I was in labor.
KAGAN: It was time. So it came to a point Christmas Eve where you realized, OK, game is up, need to get in the car and need to go.
KRISTEN EDDINS: Right.
KAGAN: But James actually, I guess the problem is that the weather was really bad. Tell us about driving through the snowstorm with your wife in labor next to you.
JAMES EDDINS: Oh, it was extremely difficult negotiating the icy roads and talking to Mike on the phone. He was an extremely calming influence and, you know, trying to help Kristen as best I could, you know, with her labor. And, but it was extremely difficult. Almost as difficult as this.
KAGAN: Yes, I think you've got a little bit more of a challenge right now. If you want to put them down, go ahead. That's all right.
JAMES EDDINS: Oh, no, we're OK.
KAGAN: All right, we understand.
JAMES EDDINS: We're OK.
KAGAN: All right, Michael...
JAMES EDDINS: They'll tear your equipment apart.
KAGAN: Oh, well, let's not do that then.
All right, let's bring our dispatcher hero in here, Mike, and tell us what it was like to get that phone call.
WILES: Very exciting. It's a high excitement call, definitely a little bit different than anything else because instead of having one person with their life on the line you potentially have two. So it's, it takes on a little bit different challenge.
KAGAN: And you must be answering calls all day long, so was it, at what point when you realized uh-oh, this is not a call like the rest of the night?
WILES: Well, when Mr. Eddins said that his wife -- that he didn't think he was going to make it to the hospital before his baby came, I didn't think it was actually going to be born before the ambulance got there. But then I heard Mrs. Eddins in the background saying, "He's born, he's born!" and then it kind of came to be then.
KAGAN: That kind of brought the story home.
WILES: Yes.
KAGAN: Kristen, take us to that moment. It sounds like this baby kind of birthed himself.
KRISTEN EDDINS: Pretty much. He was on his own game plan. He pretty much just presented himself and there he was and I was like oh my gosh, he's here and what do we do now? We just wanted to be sure he was breathing and when we heard him cry it was the best sound we could have ever have for on Christmas Day.
KAGAN: Just about the best Christmas present.
Maybe we can go ahead and zero in and see the baby a little bit closer. And, Mike, you can tell us exactly what it is you had to tell them to do. The baby got out by himself, but there was something important with the umbilical cord that James had to do.
KRISTEN EDDINS: Yes, actually...
JAMES EDDINS: I think she, that's to you, Mike.
WILES: Well, after the, after we made sure that the baby was breathing, we cleaned, had him clean away the mouth and nose to make sure that he wouldn't aspirate anything, and then wrapped him up to keep him warm and then try and find something he could use to tie off the umbilical cord. Do you know what you used, a shoe string?
JAMES EDDINS: Yes, I grabbed my shoelace and tied it up with that.
KAGAN: Just did what you had to do. Well, it looks like everyone's excited to see a baby brother. What's his name and how much did he weigh?
KRISTEN EDDINS: His name is James Leyton Eddins and he was six pounds, 14 3/4 ounces.
KAGAN: Well, he's absolutely beautiful.
KRISTEN EDDINS: Thank you.
KAGAN: And for the record, not cloned. You did it the old- fashioned way.
KRISTEN EDDINS: No. He's the real thing.
JAMES EDDINS: That's right.
KAGAN: Good for you.
JAMES EDDINS: As you can see, we don't have any problem in that area.
KAGAN: Yes, apparently not. You're doing very well there.
The Eddins family.
Thank you so much.
And also the dispatcher, Mike Wiles.
Good work to everybody on board there and a Merry Christmas.
KRISTEN EDDINS: Thank you.
JAMES EDDINS: Thank you. Happy new year.
KAGAN: Merry Christmas.
Thanks for sharing with us.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
