At 4 a.m. on October 9, Lewellen went into labor in her Port Charlotte home, as Hurricane Milton began dropping rain before making landfall in Florida.
Lewellen, who was 39 weeks pregnant, was extremely anxious when she noticed the first contractions. “My mind was racing, just thinking about what to do next,” Lewellen, 22, recalled the moment she went into labor in the early morning of October 9.
Lewellen’s boyfriend, Bennett, 24, was also stressed. In 2017, Bennett’s father, Dewey, died when Hurricane Irma hit Florida.
“He had a massive heart attack, but the ambulance couldn’t get there in the middle of the storm,” Bennett said. Seven years after his father’s death, he faced a similar situation when his girlfriend went into labor as Hurricane Milton was about to hit Florida.
The storm had not yet made landfall, but heavy rain was already pouring down. “If we don’t get to the hospital soon, the storm will flood the roads. I don’t want to go through the trauma of 2017 again,” Bennett said.
Four and a half hours after Lewellen went into labor, the couple began the dangerous journey to Sarasota Memorial Hospital in Venice, western Florida.
Lewellen is pregnant and her boyfriend Bennett. Photo: NBC News
“My mother drove us carefully through heavy rain and strong winds. There weren’t many people on the road,” Lewellen said.
When she arrived at the hospital, doctors asked that only one person be allowed in with Lewellen, so she had to say goodbye to her mother.
At 8:30 p.m., Hurricane Milton hit the area. Lewellen spent the next few hours in labor in a hospital room with a window looking out. She and her boyfriend saw the extent of Milton’s devastation as the storm swept through the area.
“The wind and rain were blowing like crazy, uprooting trees. It was a wild night,” Lewellen said.
After hours of struggling, Lewellen was told that her baby was in a breech position and that she would need a caesarean section. “A lot of thoughts were running through my head, about my family and the storm,” she said.
At 11:45 p.m., Lewellen gave birth to a healthy baby boy, weighing 3.6 kg. She named him Dewey, after her late grandfather.
“It was an indescribable moment. My cheeks hurt from laughing so hard. It was amazing,” Bennett said as she held her son in her arms.
“I’ll probably be very strict with him later on, because he was very stubborn in my belly,” Lewellen joked, adding that some people also teased him to give him the nickname “Milton.”
“He is a miracle child,” she smiled as the post-storm sunlight streamed through the window.
Lewellen holds her first son at Sarasota Memorial Hospital on October 11. Photo: NBC News
In a statement on October 10, David Verinder, CEO of the Sarasota Memorial Health Care System, expressed pride in the medical staff.
“We couldn’t be more proud. They had to leave their homes and loved ones to come here in the middle of the storm to serve patients and the community,” he said.
In addition to baby Dewey, six other babies were born at two hospitals in the system during the storm.
Before being accepted by Sarasota Memorial Hospital in Venice, Lewellen and Bennett considered evacuating to West Palm Beach in eastern Florida.
“I’m glad we didn’t, because east Florida had nine tornadoes before Milton hit,” Bennett said.
