RICHMOND, Va. -- Like any proud parents, Lori and Jake Hilldrup can't get enough of their newborn.
"Did you have a big day yesterday? Lori asked her son from her hospital bed.
But perhaps this baby, more than others, truly lived up to his name from day one.
"Were you ready to come out?" Lori asked.
Lori and Jake Hilldrup
Grant Maverick Hilldrup was born at 12:50 in the afternoon on Thursday into his father's outstretched arms.
"This was the very first shot when I initially turned him over to make sure he was breathing," Jake Hilldrup said.
Lori said she had light contractions that morning and paged her mid-wife.
"She was like OK I think you probably have about an hour left before we needed to leave," Lori said.
Yet Grant Maverick was clearly anxious to enter the world.
"I leaned up against the Explorer and I was like Jake somebody help," Lori said.
Grant Maverick Hilldrup
So determined to arrive that his mom and dad hadn't even made it into their Ford Explorer when he started coming out.
"I checked, and I saw the top of his head, and I was like oh my gosh we can't even get back inside," Jake said.
Lori Hilldrup said she never expected to be in the back of her SUV giving birth, but there she was doing just that.
"At that point, my body was going to do what it was going to do whether I was on board or not," Lori said.
"When he came out, he just slid right into my hands. I put one hand on him like that, and the other hand under his butt to check him out and patted him a couple times, and he started crying. It was unbelievable," Jake said.
Jake said afterward Lori was able to relax, but as for him…
"It was just a giant mixture of fear and amazement and joy and everything else put together," Jake said. "It was something else."
"And then it was just immediate relief, the pain was gone. I knew he was out," Lori said.
Jake then drove the pair, along with Lori's mom and sister, to the VCU Medical Center, where the staff was waiting to cut the umbilical cord and check on Grant.
Lori said Grant's due date was July 26, but he was clearly ready to enter the world more than a week early.
