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Special delivery as mother delivers surprise baby boy
A 33-year-old Putnam County woman who thought she was having an appendicitis delivered nearly an eight-pound baby Friday night, surprising not only herself but the father and the hospital staff.
Mandy Batchelor and Josh Cox of Greencastle announced the Feb. 28 birth on Facebook.
"I was getting ready for work," the surprised father told the Banner Graphic, explaining that he was scheduled to work at IAC in Greencastle at 7 p.m. Friday before Batchelor told him she was experiencing severe lower back pain.
"She said her hip was hurting bad and she wanted me to take her to ER," added Cox, who rushed her to Hendricks Regional Health at Danville.
Batchelor also works at IAC (formerly Lear Corp.) on Fillmore Road, where she has been an assembly line operator the past 14 years.
The 34-year-old Cox, who has been employed as a forklift driver at IAC for 15 years, explained that Batchelor had just completed an eight-hour shift, standing on her feet the whole time.
"Back pain is not unusual for her due to working on her feet on the concrete," Cox continued. "Some days are better than others but she had new shoes on so she figured it take some time to break them in."
Batchelor, already a mother of two (Cole Batchelor, 12, and Ivy Rose Cox, 4), said her body had showed no signs of pregnancy.
She had experienced some weight gain, she said, but attributed that to her "normal winter time weight gain."
"So I was shocked. Very shocked," Batchelor said in an interview with WRTV, Channel 6, Indianapolis.
At Danville, in the ER at Hendricks Regional Health, Cox said hospital staff thought Batchelor was suffering a gallstone attack.
One of the nurses even said, "'We'll take her back,' and then a few minutes later her water busts everywhere," Cox added.
Batchelor soon gave birth to a healthy baby boy weighing 7 pounds, 13 ounces.
And with no pre-birth debate over boys' names and girls' names, the couple had to scramble to come up with a moniker.
"Our surprise miracle baby's name is General Lee Jacob Cox," the proud father announced.
"'General Lee' is my mom's grandpa," Cox explained, "and Jacob was my dad's grandpa. So both my great-grandpas. I just put them together, plus it goes along, I have a General Lee car, so it just all worked out."
Friends and family members -- many of whom knew the couple thought they were done having children and had given away baby furniture back in December -- initially thought the announcement was a prank.
"They just couldn't believe it," Cox said. "They thought it was a joke."
People could not fathom the idea, Batchelor added, that four hours after she got off work she delivered a full-term baby.
"A lot of our friends and family have brought us a lot and have helped a bunch," Cox added. "Now we just have to get a room decorated."