Mother delivers baby in car on side of interstate in Cleveland County

KINGS MOUNTAIN, N.C. — Jessica Killian was in labor and on the way to the hospital to deliver her newborn when she told her boyfriend to stop the vehicle.

They started from Grover and when they were about 15 minutes from the hospital, Killian, already a mother of three, knew she couldn’t go any farther.

She didn't even have time to recline before her son's head crowned.

['A miracle baby': Local couple gives birth to first child on New Year's Day]

They delivered the baby in the front of their compact car New Year’s Day on the side of Interstate 85 near Kings Mountain.

"I think we got his name right from the beginning,” Killian said. “I think he came in like an A-bomb."

The couple named their son Atom Bomb.

Atom came into the world weighing 7 pounds, 14 ounces.

"The baby just came out!” Killian’s boyfriend told the 911 dispatcher. “The baby just came out!"

They had to use a shoestring to tie the umbilical cord and drive two exits up to meet an ambulance.

"It was amazing to see him in a car not in a hospital, and his dad to be the one delivering him,” Killian said.

Killian and Atom left the hospital the next day.

"He is perfect to have been born in a car, I don't know,” Killian said. “I guess you would think something would have went wrong, but it didn't."

She said her 5-year-old daughter was in the back seat watching the delivery.

Read more top trending stories on wsoctv.com:

• Police identify man killed after being hit by several cars, dragged 1,000 feet
• Officials say unattended candles caused fire that killed child, hurt 6 other people
• FDA says certain antibiotics could rupture main artery
• FORECAST: Temps cool into 50s with more wet weather on the horizon
• Police searching for Huntersville girl missing since Christmas

Cox Media Group