Woman gives birth in Cape Cod traffic, meets ambulance at nearby Dunkin’

Danya Mahota was driving his pregnant wife to a hospital so she could deliver their baby when Rebecca Mahota suddenly screamed, “She’s coming now!”

The couple - who live in Brewster, Mass., on Cape Cod - were headed to Beth Israel Deaconess Hospital in Plymouth, about 45 miles from their home.

Rebecca’s contractions started shortly before the pair left that morning, Aug. 8, and they were far apart, so the couple thought they had plenty of time to get to their destination. About 30 minutes into their drive, though, they learned the baby was not waiting.

“I’m going to need you to pull over,” Rebecca, 33, told her husband, who reached over and felt the baby’s head poking out. “There was no option. There truly wasn’t a moment to even consider picking up a cellphone.”

Danya, 44, followed his wife’s directions. He moved to the right lane of the busy Route 6 highway and pulled over on the shoulder. He then darted out and went over to the passenger seat, where his wife had already removed her shorts and was ready to push.

“I said, ‘Sweetheart, put your feet on my shoulders,’” Danya said.

While Rebecca pushed, Danya gradually pulled out their daughter.

“I delivered that baby with straight adrenaline,” Rebecca said.

Within a matter of minutes, their daughter was born at 9:55 a.m. They named her Summer.

“It was really something to behold,” said Danya, explaining that his wife immediately took charge. She patted Summer’s back until she began crying, and they wrapped the newborn in a blanket Rebecca’s mother made.

“It was meant to be Summer’s first blanket in the hospital, but it was Summer’s first blanket in the car,” Danya said.

He called the hospital, which sent an ambulance to meet the couple at a nearby Dunkin’ parking lot. About 12 minutes later, police and EMTs arrived.

“They had an X-ACTO knife, and I cut my daughter’s umbilical cord in a Dunkin’ Donuts parking lot, like every Massachusetts father should,” Danya said. The popular coffee and doughnut shop was founded in Massachusetts in 1950 and has a famously loyal following in the Boston area and beyond.

After the umbilical cord was cut, Rebecca still felt sharp pains, as she had not yet delivered the placenta and was experiencing contractions.

“My wife was clearly in a great deal of discomfort,” said Danya, who runs a license-plate-recognition software company.

Mom and baby were taken to the hospital in an ambulance, while Danya followed them in his car.

Shortly after they arrived at the hospital, they realized Rebecca’s phone was missing. Since they had GPS location tracking, they were able to pinpoint where they left it on the side of the highway. Danya’s best friend went to retrieve it.

But the phone wasn’t all that was lost during the chaotic birth. Later that night, Danya realized his wedding band wasn’t on his finger. He had a flashback to the delivery and recalled seeing the ring and worrying that it might hurt the baby.

Since he had the GPS coordinates of his wife’s phone, he and some friends returned to the same spot a few days later to check whether it was somehow still there. To his shock, it was.

“It was amazing,” Danya said, adding that they are in the process of getting Summer’s birth certificate amended to include the exact GPS coordinates where she was born.

The Mahotas said they are still processing how lucky they were that day.

“Anything could have gone so wrong,” said Rebecca, who owns a beauty business. “And for this little girl to arrive healthy, to still be healthy, for me to be healthy, we are forever grateful.”

The couple said their daughter’s birth story - which was first published by Cape Cod Times - was completely on brand for Cape Cod, as they had to maneuver through summer traffic and ended up at a Dunkin’.

“You can’t get more Cape Cod than this baby,” Rebecca said. “It’s just really fun.”

Summer is adjusting well to life at home, and the Mahotas’ older daughter, Kendall, 9, is thrilled to be a big sister.

“Kendall has brought happy, joyful tears to our eyes, just in the way she truly cares for her little sister,” Rebecca said.

The Mahotas said they’re excited to share the story with Summer one day.

“She’s going to do amazing things in this world. I can already feel it,” Rebecca said. “Especially with this kind of entrance.”