Hair-raising birth gives mom her own claim to Army Strong

After two tours of duty in Iraq and one in Bosnia, Minnesota Army National Guardsman Zachary Jones, 33, returned home Sunday as a living example of Army Strong.

His partner, Krystal Thomas, 31, can make the same claim after 45 minutes on Hwy. 100.

During a nasty snowstorm. With her three children buckled into the back seat. Enduring wicked contractions as she drove from their home in Eagan to Methodist Hospital in St. Louis Park to deliver her fourth baby. Two weeks early.

Which she did. By herself. In her car.

"How many times did I ask you to repeat the story?" Jones asked Thomas earlier this week as they relaxed at home, their 5-week-old son, Zachary Jr., cradled in Jones' arms.

"Two or three," said Thomas, who works full-time for the Army Reserve. "My hair is getting grayer every day."

The couple met two years ago through Thomas' work with the Reserve and soon started to prepare for Jones' upcoming deployment. Jones, who grew up in St. Paul, has a 10-year-old daughter, LaKiesha. Thomas, reared on the East Coast, has Kaya, 8, Claire, 6, and Peter, 2.

Jones had "mixed feelings" about the pregnancy. "It's very hard on families [when we're] away from home for so long. I wouldn't be able to carry my share of the load. It was gonna be tough with the kids, the dog, her work and, on top of that, school."

Thomas just completed her online bachelor's degree in business administration. Jones graduated from Central High School, studied computer science in college, then joined the Guard in 1999.

To ease the burden, they talked on the phone nearly every day. She mailed him ultrasound images. With a due date of early January, Thomas assumed that Jones would miss the birth, so she drummed up Plan B.

On Dec. 23, physical changes signaled that Plan B might be needed rather soon. She called her midwife, Tanya Muller, who wasn't alarmed because Thomas wasn't having contractions. Still, she told Thomas to keep her posted.

Thomas went to Toys 'R' Us to buy her girls a Wii for Christmas. By 7 p.m, "the sensible side" of Thomas was packing bags and getting the kids ready. At 11 p.m., she woke up feeling "miserable." Then her water broke. She called Muller, as well as a close friend who had volunteered to stay with the kids. The friend promised to be right over, and she would have come, except for that darn sleeping pill she had taken earlier in the night. She fell right back to sleep.

"I was driving in the middle of the road," she said. "You couldn't see anything." Muller checked her progress periodically, and briefly, by phone. Thomas also offered her kids a primer in the miracle of birth:

"I'm going to have a contraction and I'm going to yell," she told her wide-eyed daughters, "but it's going to be OK." She didn't tell them what else she was thinking: "This baby is going to come out on the highway."

Not quite. When Thomas neared the Excelsior Blvd. exit near Methodist, Muller told her to pull into the emergency room entrance where Muller and a nurse would meet her. Thomas pulled instead into the adjoining cardiac unit, got out of her car, realized her error and was about to jump back inside when she realized it was too late. The baby's head was out. She sat back down and, just after 1 a.m. on Dec. 24, Zachary Louis Jones arrived with a healthy cry: 6 pounds, 13 ounces, and 20 1/2 inches long.

In minutes, Muller, nurse Michelle Rannow-Welter and a few groundsmen came running with towels and blankets. Muller cut the cord and focused on taking care of Thomas. Rannow-Welter swept up the baby, and the other children, and got them to warmth inside.

"It was fabulous, considering everything she'd been through and the fact that this was a circumstance that could have turned out otherwise," Muller said. "She is a very strong woman, very determined and independent." Muller, who has delivered babies for 15 years, said "this was a new experience, even for me."

"He's very sweet," Thomas added of Zach Jr. "He's been the easiest so far. My mom says I have a special bond with this one because I delivered him myself. But, really, if I had to choose 12 hours of painful labor, or one hour of labor and an easy delivery, I'd take the easy delivery.

"Even in my car."

Gail Rosenblum • 612-673-7350 • gail.rosenblum@startribune.com