Baby Sekani was born right as the tornado sirens started blaring, entering the world by candlelight.
Every birth story is one parents love to tell over and over, but Sekani’s is truly unique.
She came into the world during a tornado — taking her first breath by candlelight in a laundry room.
The day started out beautiful
Sekani’s mom was a week overdue when she came to the Bump Birthing Center in Rowlett, Texas, on Sunday.
“It was a beautiful day outside, nothing to worry about,” said Kasie McElhaney, the owner and lead midwife at the center in suburban Dallas.
“Then around 10 p.m., or a little before, it was time for her to start pushing and our phones all started going off saying there is a tornado near us.”
With the power out and tornado sirens going off, the staff quickly transformed the safest place in the Center into a birthing room.
“We quickly took [the mom] into the laundry room, where we went on to deliver her baby by candlelight,” McElhaney said.
Both Sekani and the mom, whom the center didn’t want to identify by last name, were fine.
A tornado was confirmed in the area
The tornado touched down in Dallas around 9:30 p.m. Sunday, and knocked out power to more than 100,000 customers.
“Considering the path that the storm took, it went across a pretty densely populated part of our city, I think we should consider ourselves very fortunate that we did not lose any lives, no fatalities and no serious injuries in last night’s storm,” Dallas Mayor Eric Johnson said at a Monday morning news conference.
Luckily, the birthing center had no damage and the electricity came on right after the new family was discharged, McElhaney said.
