These Babies Were Born During Hurricane Florence, and Talk About Little Troopers

By Murphy Moroney

For most parents, the weeks leading up to the birth of a child are spent putting the finishing touches on the nursery and relaxing. But for North Carolina moms and dads who welcomed their little ones during Hurricane Florence, the days before their deliveries were far from calm.

With many parents forced to evacuate their entire towns, let alone houses, soon-to-be moms and dads were left to make drastic decisions about when it came time to give birth. Read through to get a glimpse of the most amazing birth stories from Hurricane Florence, and peek at their sweet new bundles of joy.

Matilda

After getting evacuated the day before her due date, Rachel and Levi English, a couple from New Bern, NC, made the last-minute decision to drive eight hours to Rachel's parents' house in Haverford, PA, to give birth.

"It was really scary knowing we were expecting a baby really any minute and potentially unable to get to the hospital or left without electricity for days and days with a newborn," Rachel told CBS.

As soon as the Englishes got to the house, Rachel began to have contractions. And in an unexpected twist, Rachel was able to give birth to her daughter Matilda at Lankenau Medical Center, the same hospital she was born in.

"It's really exciting to be back here at Lankenau since I was born here. Definitely a quick change of plans," said Rachel. She added: "Definitely a story to tell her when she grows up. We were trying to think of with the nurses if there was a fun hurricane nickname we could give her. We haven't come up with one yet."

Carson

Amber Simmons and Conner Faulk welcomed their first child via C-section at Novant Health Brunswick Medical Center in Bolivia, NC, on Sept. 14.

Although the hospital's emergency room was open, it was in "lockdown mode" for the storm, and obviously, Conner and Amber were concerned.

"We were pretty nervous," Conner told Novant Health. "Everybody kept telling us it was going to happen during the storm. We didn't want it to, but it did. We're glad we're in a safe place. They're looking out for us really well here at the hospital."

Amber delivered a son named Carson 11 days before her Sept. 25 due date.

Sadie and Scarlett

As soon as Danielle and Nicholas Digregorio got wind that their Jacksonville, NC, home was in Hurricane Florence's path, the they knew they didn't want to take any chances with delivering their twins. By time the storm blew through, Danielle was already 37 weeks along, so they drove to Florida to avoid the storm.

"We were pretty nervous to leave North Carolina while expecting twins, but our doctor and our family felt like it was the right thing to do," the couple told Today. "We were confident we could make the drive, which is normally seven hours, but turned out to be a long 12 hours."

Two days, later Danielle gave birth to her girls and has been recovering with her babies in peace ever since.

"We had our twin girls, Sadie and Scarlett, at 9:30 a.m. Thursday," said a Facebook post from Naval Hospital Jacksonville. "The nurses and doctors at Naval Hospital Jacksonville have been awesome, and everything worked out perfectly with the care here. Our little hurricane babies are safe."