Atmore couple births son en route to hospital

Published 12:04 am Wednesday, November 20, 2019

Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...

Interstate 65 at Exit 37.

That’s the location an Atmore couple had their baby son in the early morning hours of Nov. 10.

Joey and Brandy Rolin welcomed their fourth child, Grayson Eugene, into the world at 3:01 a.m. in the back of a Ford Exhibition.

Sign up for our daily email newsletter

Get the latest news sent to your inbox

Brandy said she woke up around 2 a.m., and had a little bit of pain, but not much.

“I woke my husband up and told him, ‘we need to go to the hospital,’” she said. “We started getting everything ready.”

Brandy said she then felt like her water slowly started to break, but not much.

“We got in the car, and started driving,” she said. “We got to Exit 37, and I yelled at Joey that we’re about to miss the exit, and that the baby was fixing to come.”

Brandy said she then let out a big scream, put down her shorts and out Grayson came.

“We had enough time to stop the car,” she said. “He literally hit the floorboard of our car.”

Brandy said at this moment, she was in shock as Grayson just came right out.

“We were on the phone with 911 while all of this was happening,” she said. “We were telling them that we weren’t going to make it to the hospital, and the baby was coming.

“The operator told us to grab a towel, and we didn’t have any in the car,” she said. “My husband took his shirt off and picked Grayson off the ground, wrapped him in his shirt and handed him to me.”

Brandy said Joey and herself, along with Grayson, sat and waited until an ambulance came.

Brandy said the birth occurred on the exit ramp, almost in front of the hospital sign, pointing toward North Baldwin Medical Center.

“They came and before we even left, we got in the ambulance, and my husband cut the umbilical chord as it was still attached,” she said. “They took us to the hospital, and on his birth certificate, or birth verification, it actually says he was born on I-65 at Exit 37, instead of the hospital.”

At the hospital, staff took her back and checked Grayson over, and shortly afterward, brought him back to Brandy.

“We only stayed in the hospital 24 hours, and were released,” she said.

The original plan was to induce two weeks after the birth occurred as she was already at 37 weeks, she said.

And Grayson weighed in at 6 pounds, 14 ounces, and was 20 inches long.

Grayson is the grandson of the late Edward Eugene Rolin. His paternal grandmother is Nicey Ree Rolin of Pensacola, Fla.

His maternal grandparents are Juanita Louise and Robert Ralph Blechl of Pensacola, and Kenneth Lee and Amanda Marie McWilliams of Pensacola.