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.{}
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.{}