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It's Happening: Bridgeport High Alum Becky Rader Nay Delivers Baby at her Dola Store

By Julie Perine on December 03, 2017 via Connect-Bridgeport.com

UPDATE: An episode of "My Crazy Birth Story" featuring this local miracle delivery will air 11 p.m. Aug. 15, 2019 on TLC. The series is also available for viewing on Hulu and Sling TV.
 
The Dola Dairy Mart is a full-service community store. There, one can purchase gasoline, basic groceries and a plethora of unique items. A light-up dog collar and homemade peanut butter fudge are just a couple of the treasures I’ve found at the one-stop shop, located on rural Route 20.
 
The store is owned and operated by our friends and church family members, Dave and Becky Nay. The former Becky Rader is a 1982 Bridgeport High School graduate. This week, something amazing happened at the Dola Dairy Mart and Becky was part of this miracle. Right in the parking lot – inside a Ford F150 - she delivered a baby boy.
 
It was Wednesday afternoon when a woman hysterically ran into the store, asking to use the phone to call 911. She and her daughter-in-law – Haley Allen – whose water had broken at her Wallace home - were en route to United Hospital Center when the mommy-to-be announced she wasn’t going to make it that far. The baby was coming quick.
 
“I called (911), then gave her the phone and went to check on the mom,” Becky said. “I asked her if she was sure she couldn’t make it to the hospital and she said that yes, she was sure.”
 
Becky then got on the phone with the paramedics, giving them answers to several questions, like how many babies the mom-to-be had given birth to and how far apart her contractions were. The answer to the latter question one was “non-stop.”
 
“(Haley) said to look and see if the head was coming, so I told her to lay down and I looked and told her not yet,” Becky said. “She told me she had to push.”
 
Becky and her friend/employee Melvina put their heads together, trying to think of a nurse who lived nearby. They drew a blank. They also tried to get Haley to go inside the store building, where there was an empty apartment. She would be more comfortable in the living quarters, but Haley said she could not move.
 
The women knew what they had to do. Melvina gathered towels and sheets from the apartment and Becky went about the task of delivering a baby.
 
And it was just in the nick of time. The baby had crowned and was on his way. Paramedics, who were also on their way from Shinnston, remained on the phone with Becky to talk her through the delivery. With that professional advice - and a direct prayer line wide open - it was go time.
 
Daddy-to-be Joshua Arnett, who was working in Woodsfield, Ohio with MEC Construction, and had been summoned by his mom, Darla, to get home - was also on a phone line, listening to it all.
 
“The baby was stuck at the chin and the paramedics were telling me to clear the airway,” Becky said.
 
It was touch-and-go for a few minutes. Once his little head was out, there was no crying.
 
“At first, he didn’t make any noise and it really scared me,” Haley said. “Then I had another contraction and he was really pushing himself out. I really didn’t have to push so much. He was sliding out and finally his shoulders came out and his arm moved up and he just wailed.”
 
Haley – and Joshua, who was still on the phone line – said it’s the best thing they had ever heard.
 
“I just said ‘Thank you God. And thank you ladies so much. I owe you my life,’” Haley said.
 
As instructed, the women wrapped the baby and the umbilical cord for warmth and waited until paramedics arrived. It was 15 minutes or so, but seemed like an eternity, everyone said.
 
“The ladies were holding him in the towels, keeping him covered,” Haley said. “I was shaking severely so it was probably better that they were holding him. I was just praying to God that he was OK.”
 
Becky said she was doing the same thing. In fact, she was so concerned about keeping the baby warm, she didn’t even look to see if it was a boy or a girl.
 
The paramedics cut the cord and told the store keepers they had done an amazing job. They had a tiny toboggan with them that was swiftly placed on the new baby’s head. After a couple of photos, he was on the way to the hospital with his mom.
 
Joshua arrived shortly thereafter. Nurses weighed and measured the new bundle of joy – five pounds, 13 ounces and 19 inches long.
 
“They kept a close eye on him to make sure his vitals were good and he wasn’t running a temperature, indicating infection,” Haley said.
 
But all went well and there were no problems, said Haley, who filled in some more details about the day. She said she had woken up that morning with a feeling that it would be the day. She was already several days overdue.
 
“I packed a bag with my clothes, then decided to take a shower before I packed the baby’s clothes,” she said.
 
Of course, that never happened. Not only was Haley accompanied by her mother-in-law, but also by her four-year-old nephew who was spending the day. He hung out inside the store while his new cousin was born. With no cell service along the stretch of Route 20 between Wallace and Lumberport, Haley said she knew they could use the phone at the store. She said they sure went to the right place.
 
“Haley said there were two angels that helped deliver the baby,” Joshua said. “Thank God they were there.”
 
Baby boy Arnett – who someday will have an amazing story to tell – was named Theron John. He will be called “TJ.”
 
“Theron is from Haley’s side, the name of her great-great-grandfather and John is after my grandfather, who helped raise me, my brother and sister,” Joshua said.
 
Haley and Joshua – who have two daughters, five-year-old Zae Rihanna and one-and-a-half-year-old Jordan Aliah – just today made a gesture to show their love and gratitude. Becky and Melvina were asked to be TJ’s godmothers.
 
And as you might guess, they said yes. 
 
Becky said she feels very blessed. 
 
"I don't even have words to explain the feelings of participating in the miracle of childbirth and being that close to everything," she said.
 
Read "That Bridgeport High School Heart & Soul," part of this week's special double edition of "It's Happening" HERE.



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