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Pregnant doctor goes into labor while delivering a patient’s baby
A pregnant Iowa doctor recently went into labor while she delivered the baby of another patient, according to the Iowa City Press-Citizen. (2007 file photo/Christopher Furlong/Getty Images)

Pregnant doctor goes into labor while delivering a patient’s baby

A pregnant Iowa doctor recently went into labor while she delivered the baby of another patient, according to the Iowa City Press-Citizen.

The Press-Citizen reported that Dr. Emily Jacobs and her husband, Ryan Jacobs, are Texas natives who recently moved to Iowa for Emily’s residency in obstetrics and gynecology at University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics. Like her patients, the young doctor was also an expectant mother.

An early delivery

According to the report, Emily’s residency began on July 1, and she typically puts in 80-hour weeks.

“I felt good the first three weeks, delivering babies and working night shifts at the hospital,” she said. “I wasn’t due until Aug. 24.”

But early one morning on July 28, while Emily was delivering another baby, she realized she was ready to have her own.

She noticed amniotic fluid on her scrubs and assumed it was from her last patient. But when Emily left the patient’s delivery room, she realized that her own water had broken.

From doctor to patient

“It’s funny how fast you go from being a doctor to a patient — and you’re freaking out,” she said.

“One minute you are in control, and then the next, you’re not.”

Emily said she was worried “because I was about a month early.”

“Ideal is 39-40 weeks, but my baby was 36 weeks and one day,” she said.

Emily told ABC News that when she told her supervisor her water broke, she “just kind of smiled and told me to go back in one of the triage rooms and wait for her to confirm that it was my water."

Meanwhile, Emily tried to contact her husband, who was asleep at home.

“I got a call at 4:45 a.m., but didn’t answer because I didn’t recognize the number,” Ryan said. “Then she texted me with what was happening and I took off.”

The couple’s son, Jett Eric Jacobs, was born later that day, weighing 6 pounds, 2 ounces.

“He was pretty big for a 36-week baby,” Emily said.

Emily told ABC News that becoming a mother made her "more understanding" of her patients’ concerns.

"It's definitely made me more empathetic and more aware of what it's like going through some pregnancy complications," she said. "People will come in [who are] in preterm labor often ... very worried about the health of their baby and health of themselves. Until [I went] through it, I can definitely appreciate just how worried and nervous you get."

(H/T Yahoo News)

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