Traffic stops; babies stay put

In an I-75 traffic jam, a woman is certain she's going into labor. Not so. But the flight was nice.

By BRADY DENNIS, Times Staff Writer
© St. Petersburg Times
published January 3, 2002

SAN ANTONIO -- Jennifer Jean Feeney had nowhere to go when the pain hit.

Like thousands of other drivers, the 24-year-old sat gridlocked Wednesday, where steady rain and a stream of wrecks had ground traffic to a halt.

People were outside their cars, pacing Interstate 75.

But unlike everyone else, the former Miss Pasco County and Miss Ocala/Marion County was eight months pregnant -- with twins.

She and her mother, Madelyn Tesar, were headed for a prenatal checkup in Tampa.

They never made it.

"I felt a contraction, and then they kept coming and coming," Feeney said from her hospital room Wednesday afternoon. "My mom was standing outside the car, and traffic was stopped. I looked at her and said, 'I just had a third contraction.'

"I was pretty calm, but everybody else freaked out."

Feeney called the Florida Highway Patrol, asking for an escort off the interstate. That wasn't possible, and soon Pasco County paramedics arrived.

Rescue crews wanted to get Feeney to a hospital, so they called for a helicopter to fly her to University Community Hospital in Tampa, nearly 20 miles away.

Her mother had to stay behind and wait out the traffic jam before she could drive to the hospital.

"I was fine until they took her away," Tesar said. "It was nerve wracking. I wanted to be with my daughter. I had the pedal to the metal."

She couldn't go very fast. County emergency workers counted at least four major wrecks within two hours along the interstate on Wednesday, as well as countless minor ones. The wrecks began just before noon.

Meanwhile, at Feeney's house on Southview Avenue in Dade City, the phone was ringing off the hook. Feeney's 83-year-old grandmother, Mabel McClarity, was home alone when the news came.

"I was just a wreck," McClarity said as she paced around the house in a pink sweater. "You have no idea how much I am shaking."

It wasn't long before Feeney's stepfather, Bobby Tesar, arrived home.

"I got home and Mabel screamed, 'She's gone into labor and they took her in a helicopter!" Tesar said. "When babies want out, they want out. I think it's going to be an interesting new year."

Someday Jennifer Feeney will have quite a story to tell her soon-to-be children, McKenna Reefe Feeney and Bryce William Feeney. But the story isn't quite over.

Hospital officials said Feeney was under observation Wednesday night, but they said wasn't in labor and wasn't expected to deliver. They said she probably would be sent home today .

The twins weren't expected until Valentine's Day.

"I felt like I was in a movie," said Feeney, who stressed how grateful she was to Pasco County paramedics and Bayflite crew members. She said the helicopter ride wasn't bad, either. "It was pretty neat. There's a first time for everything."

While Wednesday's scene was no doubt odd, it wasn't exactly out of character for Feeney, her stepfather said.

"Everyone has their 15 minutes," Bobby Tesar said. "She's never done anything quietly."

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