Canoe believe it? Baby born after mother delivered to hospital in canoe

NORTH CHARLESTON, S.C. (WCIV) — A pregnant woman found herself going into labor as she tried to escape rising floodwaters by boat. It’s a delivery the family will never forget.

Tyshenequia McLean gave birth to a son this weekend, but only after she was delivered to the hospital in a canoe.

McLean started going into labor Sunday while her North Charleston home was surrounded by flood water. She and her mother, Tammy Bizzell, were getting nervous when firefighters arrived, with a canoe.

“I was scared. It was so much water,” Bizzell said.

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They pulled her along in the waist-high water until they reached dry land and a waiting ambulance. Her water broke at the Trident Medical Center and, after nine hours of labor she gave birth to a healthy, 9-pound, 21-inch baby boy she named Elijah Ty’Quan McClean.

“I can honestly say in 15 years I think that’s the first patient I’ve ever had that came to Trident via canoe,” said Erin LaRoche, a registered nurse.

And now that baby Elijah is safe in McLean’s arms, all those fears of getting from home to the hospital are washed away.

It was a first for many. For McLean, it may be the last. At least for a while.

“I won’t have another kid for about 40 years,” she said.

The family did not experience any major damage to their property, and hopes to take baby Elijah home on Wednesday — by car.