Shayla Taylor was in active labor on one of the upper floors of Moore Medical Center on Monday when the tornado with winds that were over 200 miles per hour touched down. The young mother was dilated to 9 centimeters with her second child. She was just about ready to give birth when she was given a quick shot to delay labor. The hospital suffered a direct hit. The picture above shows what Moore Medical Center looked like after the tornado hit.
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Shayla retells her harrowing experience and how brave nurses stayed at her side throughout the experience. She says the building started shaking and ceiling tiles began falling. She turned her head and closed her eyes as she and nurses held hands and prayed. When she opened her eyes again, daylight was streaming into the room as the walls had been torn off the buildings, but she was safe and so were her husband, Jerome Taylor, and her 4-year-old son, Shaiden, who had gone to wait out the tornado in the hospital cafeteria.
Shayla was transferred by ambulance to another hospital, Norman Regional Health System. There she delivered (via c-section) Braeden Immanuel, a healthy baby boy weighing in at 8 pounds, 3 ounces.
Looking at the damage that Moore Medical Center sustained really puts this birth story into perspective. It is astounding that Shayla not only survived the experience, but has a gorgeous baby boy to hold in her arms and be grateful for.
It is beyond inspiring to learn about these stories of people coming together, risking their own lives, and helping each other survive. Those nurses are heroes, and so are the ambulance drivers, and everyone else who had a hand in bringing Braeden into the world safely.
Image via Getty Images
