A Burbank woman went into labor on Labor Day, and her husband delivered their baby in the hallway of their home. However, she had not even known she was pregnant.
“Shocked is an understatement,” Jennifer Favela, 35, told the local CBS News affiliate in Los Angeles hours after she delivered the baby boy at 4 a.m. “I woke up in the middle of the night just thinking I had a stomachache.”
The father, Jeff Parungoa, reportedly called 911 and said, “I think my wife’s having a baby. But we’re not pregnant.”
Dispatchers guided Parungoa through the delivery, which took place in the hallway of the family’s Burbank home. Parungoa also relied on what he witnessed after having watched his wife give birth to their other two children to help him through the birthing process.
Favela told CBS that she and her husband had noticed her weight gain but that she thought it was due to stress from other things. She said she also experienced what she believed were light periods and that she did not have morning sickness.
The couple reportedly Snapchatted their ambulance ride to Providence Saint Joseph Medical Center in Burbank.
The couple also has a girl, 13, and another boy, 7. Favela, who works for an insurance company, said her Facebook page was filled with shocked comments like “Wait! You guys didn’t know you were pregnant????”
On April 21, 2016, San Francisco became the first city in the nation to approve six weeks of fully-paid parental leave for both parents after a birth or adoption. Mayor Ed Lee signed The Paid Parental Leave for Bonding with New Child Ordinance, which will take effect on January 1, 2017 for businesses with more than 50 employees. Businesses with 35 to 49 workers will be required to start in July, and employers with 20 to 34 workers will have until January 2018.
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