Johnston baby couldn't wait to be born

Three years ago, Shannon and Guy White barely made it to the hospital in time for their twins to be born.

So this time around, they thought they were being pretty smart. They changed medical practices and switched hospitals from Rex to WakeMed, which was a lot closer to their Johnston County home.

Joke's on them.

Shannon White awoke to a contraction at 4:45 a.m. Wednesday. She eased herself into a bath to relax. Then Mother Nature decided to accelerate the process.

"I didn't even make it out the bathroom door," White would say later, recounting an unexpectedly swift series of events that led her husband, Guy, a Garner police officer, to deliver a baby for the very first time. His own.

Landon Laird White, all 10 pounds, 12 ounces of him, took his first breaths on the floor of his mother and father's bathroom, less than two hours after Shannon's contractions began.

Officer White remained calm, his wife reported, even maintaining his composure while unwrapping the umbilical cord that had wound itself around the little boy's neck.

Crisis averted. Paramedics arrived soon after to whisk mother, father and baby to the hospital.

Young Landon is in perfect health now, and his parents have a story to tell. They came home Thursday.

"It's surreal," Shannon White said. "Several times already, I've said, 'On the bathroom floor, honey? That's gross!' "