It may strike you as bizarre but it was the only option left for the couple. BelRaye Osborne, 39 weeks pregnant, delivered her baby on the side of the Jackie Robinson Parkway in New York City on October 1.
Amidst the bustling traffic, she realized her baby was arriving even faster than her husband, Tru, could navigate the roads. Amid the intensifying labor pains, the soon-to-be mom and her partner started their journey from East New York to New York-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell Medical at 7:30 a.m. The realization that the baby could push out any moment dawned on the childhood sweethearts a mere 17 minutes into their drive to midtown Manhattan.
Experiencing contractions every other minute and feeling the intense pressure, the mother of two insisted on an emergency stop just before Exit 5 on Myrtle Avenue and Woodhaven Boulevard. Baby No. 3 was in a hurry and couldn’t wait any longer, according to the New York Post.
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BelRaye, a 32-year-old certified life coach and high school language arts instructor, urgently informed her husband, Tru, a 33-year-old professional singer and music teacher, that the baby was imminent.
Tru, initially skeptical, asked if it might be gas, but BelRaye insisted that it was the baby and asked him to feel her stomach. Upon doing so, he realized the baby’s feet were pressing against her rib cage, and the couple quickly recognized they were about to welcome their child on the highway.
In the wink of an eye, Baby Temple made a swift entrance into the world on the shoulder of the parkway, taking a mere five seconds from a single powerful grunt to the joyous arrival.
During the pregnancy, Tru playfully joked about being the one to deliver their baby, despite their intention to have the support of a doula and medical professionals at New York-Presbyterian. Despite having been present for the births of their two older children, Titan and Thunder, Tru had never actively participated in the process.
However, when he witnessed the baby’s head crowning and heard BelRaye’s cries of pain after pulling over, Tru quickly realized that delivering a baby was no laughing matter. Tru opened the passenger door, and his wife extended one leg out of the car while gripping the handle for support. Coincidentally, Tru had a trunk full of 15 new towels, purchased just two days prior for their household.
Tru, holding a load of towels, noticed that the baby was crowning, with the top of the head already visible. BelRaye, amidst the pain, briefly felt a wave of concern, wondering how the baby would make its way out. Doctors had expressed concerns about the baby being “too big” for a natural birth. With one foot in the car, one on the ground, and squatting on the side of the road, she wondered the fate of the baby in the unfolding process.
BelRaye gave birth to her 8-pound-5-ounce son, Temple Westry Grant Archangel Osborne, within just five seconds of pushing. Describing the experience as fast but sacred, she recounted that there was a profound connection between God, themselves, and their newborn during the period. Instead of waiting for an ambulance on the roadside, the couple flagged down a police officer who escorted them to the hospital.
Baby Temple was named in homage to a “safe space” and “Exit 5 — Woodhaven” is listed as his birthplace on his birth certificate.
