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Pregnant Mom Starts Driving. 11 Minutes Later, Delivers Baby at Gas Pump by Herself

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If you have ever seen a woman give birth you know there are few things more powerful to witness. Women are strong — of that there is no doubt.

And strong women know that the babies they carry like to make an entrance when they arrive.

Some come early and some come late, but they definitely set their own schedules.

Some babies come all of a sudden and without warning. That is the story of Las Vegas mother Malachi Salbato and her daughter Vaeda Aurora.

Salbato had gone to her mother’s house around 11 p.m. after working a full shift to see her boys who were staying with her mom.

Around 3 a.m. she decided to go home and prepare for a home birth with a midwife.

“We have been waiting for this little girl for a long time,” her mother Candice Cavasos said.

The wait was soon to be over. But no one realized just how soon.

“The contractions still weren’t very strong, I just thought she was moving around and making me a little uncomfortable,” Salbato said. Once she was on the road, things escalated quickly.

Salbato knew she wasn’t going to be able to rely on her original plan of a home birth: “As soon as I got off the phone with her I was like ‘yup, no, I’m not even going to make it there.”



Pulling up to an Arco station and parking by a brightly lit pump, Salbato gave birth. From the time she left work and called her mother to the time she gave birth was 11 minutes.

Salbato put on some nice music, sent some text messages, reclined her seat, and gave birth. She did make an attempt to get someone’s attention at the gas station by honking her horn.



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Salbato didn’t seem to panic much. The level-headed mom’s main concern was how to get enough space in the car:  “I was more like ‘how am I going to make room in here.”

When her mother arrived at the gas station, she ran to Salbato and asked how she could help. But her help was no longer needed — not for the birth, anyway.

“She’s here,” Salbato replied. Mother and daughter are doing well.

On a personal note, my wife and I are waiting for baby #3. I hope we are as brave as Salbato if things happen more quickly than we expect. Thank you for showing us all how to be brave.

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