He may be the most Massachusetts-born father there is.
A Cape Cod couple was on their way to the hospital to give birth to their daughter when she made her grand entrance early, prompting her father to deliver her on the side of the highway — where he lost his wedding ring in the process — and make an impromptu run to Dunkin’.
Rebecca and Danya Mahota were headed to Beth Israel Deaconess Hospital in Plymouth, an hour from their home in Brewster, on Aug. 8 when Rebecca’s water broke about 26 minutes into the trip.
“One contraction later, he had pulled over to the side of the road, and I was already holding his head,” Rebecca Mahota told WCVB.
“(Rebecca) starts screaming and says, ‘She’s coming,’” Danya Mahota said, according to the Cape Cod Times.
“I’m driving, obviously, I’m running my hand between my wife’s legs and, of course, I’m feeling the top of my daughter’s head.”
The worried husband immediately pulled over behind some bushes on the side of Highway 6.
“We’re going to have to do it right here,” Rebecca told Danya, who has no medical training.
“I said, ‘OK, baby, well, let’s take it slow and figure it out,’” he told the outlet – and before he knew it, little Summer was in the passenger seat of the couple’s Land Rover.
She “started crying, and everything was fine,” the proud dad told the Cape Cod Times.
The Mahotas realized they couldn’t wait for an ambulance on the side of the highway, so they did the most quintessential Massachusetts thing they could do: They drove to a Dunkin’ parking lot to wait for first responders.
“They gave me a sterilized X-Acto knife and, like any other Massachusetts dad, I cut my baby’s umbilical cord in a Dunkin’ Donuts parking lot,” Danya joked to the outlet.
The mother and baby were taken to hospital, where they were monitored for a few days before returning home.
But once they arrived at the facility, they realized that Rebecca’s phone was missing, as was Danya’s wedding ring, which appeared to have slipped off while he was giving birth to Summer.
They easily found the cell phone using GPS tracking, but it took a few days, a few friends and a metal detector to locate Danya’s ring, according to the Cape Cod Times.
“I found it about 8 feet from where the phone was,” he said. “It had fallen and slipped off my finger because obviously my hands were a mess.”
Rebecca called her husband “amazing” for keeping her and Summer safe during the unexpected birth.
“She had a different plan to come into this world. I keep calling her a star,” she told the outlet.
