Utah Woman Gives Birth in Flying J Parking Lot

OGDEN -- Destiny Johnson knew she was in labor seconds after she parked her car at the Flying J on Wednesday.

Within minutes, Michelle Sausameda, a Flying J employee was by the 36-year-old woman's side delivering the baby boy, who was due on Sept. 26.

"He wasn't waiting," Sausameda said, minutes after an ambulance took Johnson and her son to Ogden Regional.

Sausameda said another employee saw Johnson in her car crying. Sausameda walked out to the car that was parked just south of the propane tanks.

As she passed the fuel tanks, Sausameda said a male customer told her: "The woman in the car is having a baby."

He asked me if I had a phone, Sausaemda said. I told him, "No,"

He later called 911 on his phone, she said.

When Sausameda got to the car she saw the driver's door was open; and, Johnson said her water had broke.

"I got her to calm down and then to breathe and she kept saying, 'He's coming. He's coming. And then she said, 'It's not supposed to happen this way.' I told her it would be fine,'" Sausameda said.

Johnson, who lives in Ogden, told Sausameda this was her fifth pregnancy

Sausameda grabbed pillows that were inside the car and helped Johnson onto the grass.

That is when emergency medical personnel showed up.

"We got the call at 1:20 p.m.," said Weber County Sheriff's Sgt. Mike Strecker.

"When we got there, mother was laying on the grass and Michelle (Sausameda) was in place to start delivering the baby," Strecker said.

Firefighters and deputies grabbed blankets and put them up around the two women to give them privacy from the cars, pickups and semi-trucks pulling into the parking lot.

A few minutes later, Johnson's baby boy was born.

"I wrapped him up in a shirt and when he started crying, I knew he was OK," Sausameda said.

Johnson told deputies she and her fiance were camping at Fort Buenaventura. She had driven to Flying J to get some supplies. She started cramping at the light and when she pulled into the parking lot, she knew she was in labor.

When Johnson had not returned to their campsite, her fiance came to Flying J. Neither Johnson nor her fiance had cell phones, Strecker said.

The man, whose name has not been released, heard of his son's birth from Sausameda when a customer who knew him pointed him out to her.

He hugged Sausameda and then left to meet his son.

"The baby is perfect and mom is doing fine," Strecker said.

Contact reporter Loretta Park at 801-625-4252 or lpark@standard.net. Follow her on Twitter @LorettaParkSE.

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