Little Persephone Brooks wasn’t supposed to experience her first Christmas until next year. But the feisty baby decided to make her entrance into the world in time for this Christmas — arriving 12 weeks early and in the front seat of a rental car during a road trip.
First-time mother Lilly Lester wasn’t due until Feb. 17, but Persephone had other plans. It just so happens her arrival plans fell on Nov. 28 while her parents were driving through Central Oregon on their way home to Vancouver.
“She decided she wasn’t going to make it home,” Lester said.
Lester, 29, was only just beginning to develop a noticeable baby bump when she and her boyfriend, Dustin Brooks, headed to Albuquerque, N.M., to visit her family for Thanksgiving. The Vancouver woman was about 28 weeks’ pregnant and said she had enjoyed a pretty uneventful pregnancy to that point.
Lester and Brooks had just purchased a new home — spending one night in the house before leaving town — and were signed up for labor and delivery classes after the holidays.