An unexpected birth in the O’Bleness Hospital parking lot brings two women together

By: Jensen Knecht
Posted on: Friday, August 5, 2022

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ATHENS, Ohio (WOUB) — Two women met in an unexpected way earlier this summer thanks to an unexpected delivery.

Rachel Sharp’s day started off fairly normal, with her going to work. But after painful contractions, she decided to go to her mother-in-law’s house with her two children. From there, Sharp, her mother-in-law, and two children made their way to O’Bleness Hospital.

Sharp said that “finally they let us pull in front of the E.R and she runs in to get help. They come out, start to open the door, and they’re like, we got you a wheelchair. I’m like, no time, he’s coming out.”

Sharp’s mother-in-law decided to find someone to assist her.

Meanwhile, Beebz Pariso, who worked as a firefighter, had gone to the hospital to get her finger looked at from an injury. 

Pariso said she was sitting in the emergency room lobby when Sharp’s mother-in-law came running inside the hospital. “She said my daughter’s in the car, she’s three centimeters dilated in labor, I need help. And the nurse at the desk was trying to reach people on her pager, but the pager wasn’t working so I just kept asking who she was trying to reach … so me and her ran outside.”

Pariso went to Sharp’s car and delivered the baby in the front seat with Sharp’s son and daughter watching from the back.

Pariso and Sharp then went their separate ways, with Sharp heading into the hospital with her newborn son, Carson. Pariso went back in for her appointment.

Pariso was determined to find the mother of the baby she helped deliver. She went to Facebook, with the hopes that someone would recognize the woman she was describing. “When I posted that post, it became something people got invested in, like everyone wanted to find Rachel and everyone’s like ‘Oh my god, I love this, I can’t want to hear the story, let us know if you find her.’”

Someone eventually recognized Sharp. Pariso messaged her on Facebook and the two got together for the first time since the delivery at Pariso’s house three weeks later.

This was a life changing experience for both women. Pariso said that “having that opportunity to not just help somebody but, like, truly save a life. Like, I brought a baby into the world and took care of his mom. It’s just a blessing on another level.”

“Everything happens for a reason, so in the way it all played out just way more than coincidental. Like, that happened to be the day in my finger hurt that bad, and it happened to be the time I went to the E.R., which happened to be when she arrived at the E.R., and it just all just kind of fell into place so perfectly.”

Pariso and Rachel are still in contact and plan on staying in touch with each other.