By Jordan Wilcox
Assistant Publisher
While EMS crews were delayed by traffic, a baby boy made his grand entrance into the world in the backseat of his family’s SUV, parked in the lot of an Allegan-area church.
According to his mother, Jaimy Piper of Paw Paw, that was not exactly the plan.
Piper was on her way to Holland Hospital, traveling north on M-40, when it became apparent that her baby was not going to wait.
She and her family pulled into the parking lot of Corner Bible Church at the intersection of M-40 and M-89 and called 911. An ambulance and other first responders were dispatched to the scene, but all became delayed behind a slow-moving tractor.
A firefighter with the Hamilton Fire Department was the first to arrive. However, as soon as he opened the door of the family’s Chevy Traverse, he realized he needed to act quickly. The delivery was already well underway in the backseat, and the boy’s head had already begun to emerge.
With the firefighter’s assistance, Everett Sumerix was born on May 22, weighing 10 pounds, 9 ounces, with all 10 fingers and 10 toes.
Despite the unexpected circumstances, the family eventually made it to Holland Hospital, and Everett is now a healthy newborn.
As Piper later told Fox 17, the experience was something she could have “never actually imagined.” She also said she thinks “it’d be cool if he grew up wanting to be a firefighter.”
