She Thought Bad Nachos Were to Blame. Then She Gave Birth to Twins in a Moving Car

A 31-week pregnant Texas mother began having stomach pains after eating nachos while camping near the Texas-Oklahoma border. She believed it was food poisoning and asked her husband’s grandmother to drive her to the hospital while her husband stayed with four children. About six miles into the trip, the pain intensified into contractions and the ambulance was still far away. She realized she was in urgent labor and told the driver that she was about to deliver. The twins were born in the front passenger seat of the moving car, with one arriving first and the second five minutes later. The second twin was born en caul, still inside his amniotic sac, a rare occurrence. Family members learned of the births through calls and FaceTime.

"At 31 weeks and 2 days pregnant, Shelbee Dugger-Kemp was camping with her family near the Texas-Oklahoma border when she began experiencing stomach pains after eating nachos. Out of caution, the 30-year-old asked her husband Michael's grandmother, known as Mimi, to drive her to the hospital while Michael stayed behind with the couple's four children, ages 9, 8, 8, and 4. She expected a quick checkup and planned to return shortly."

"Instead, just six miles into the journey, the discomfort she had dismissed as indigestion intensified into contractions. An ambulance was still 20 minutes away, and there was no chance of reaching the hospital in time. That's when Dugger-Kemp realized she was in what she calls "deep trouble." "I was like, 'Mimi, don't panic, but I'm about to have these babies in the car,'" Dugger-Kemp recalls."

"As Mimi gripped the steering wheel and prayed, Dugger-Kemp delivered not one but two premature babies in the passenger seat. Kane arrived first. Five minutes later came Kallan, who was born en caul, still inside his amniotic sac, an exceptionally rare type of birth estimated to occur in fewer than one in 80,000 vaginal deliveries. Just after Dugger-Kemp delivered her sons, her sister happened to call asking for the gate code to the campground."

"Moments later, Michael called his sister-in-law to see when she would arrive. Instead, he was met with tears. "When she picked up, she was crying," Dugger-Kemp says. "That's how he found out""

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