This NC woman was 15 minutes away from delivering her baby in the cab of a snowplow | News & Observer

Thanks to a ride from a snowplow driver, a Currituck County couple made it to a Chesapeake, Va., hospital with only 15 minutes to spare before their baby boy was delivered early Sunday morning.

Hugh Dawson, 32, and his wife Stephanie, 28, of Moyock, north of Elizabeth City, decided to skip calling an ambulance and made a run for a Virginia Beach hospital about 25 miles away, according to the Virginian-Pilot of Norfolk.

Hugh hurried to warm up the family’s ice-covered truck, using hot water to get the job done faster, but it still took 20 minutes to get on the road, the Pilot reported. Stephanie’s sister-in-law Sarah took care of the couple’s 4-year-old daughter Ameila while they slowly navigated the slick roads.

As they were driving, Stephanie, who was a week past her due date, realized they were not going to make it to Virginia Beach, and Hugh instead turned toward the closer Chesapeake Regional Medical Center, the Pilot said.

But the truck cut out, and the pair coasted toward an exit ramp.

Hugh, thinking quickly, flagged down a passing snowplow by jumping out in front of the vehicle and persuaded the driver to get them to the hospital, he told the paper.

The couple arrived only 15 minutes before a healthy 6-pound 13-ounce Brayden was born.