Tuesday's winter storm nearly delayed the birth of a Phillipsburg woman's planned delivery.
Ashlee Modica didn't want her son's birthday to be any other day.
Brett Monk and Ashlee Modica on Tuesday, March 14, 2017 welcome Baby Jaxon James Monk. The couple were stuck in the snow getting to the hospital during the monstrous snowstorm. (Courtesy photo) Since February, baby Jaxon was scheduled to be delivered via cesarean section on Tuesday at St. Luke's University Hospital in Fountain Hill. But Mother Nature came close in delaying the delivery.
"I was having this baby today no matter what," said Modica, also a mother to a 7-year-old daughter, Alayna Modica. "Nothing was stopping me."
Modica, 27, of Phillipsburg, initially was scheduled to deliver the baby at 2:30 p.m. Tuesday, but received a phone call asking if she could get to the hospital by 8 a.m. due to weather-related changes in patient schedules.
Modica agreed, not believing all the hype that the storm would go on to dump more than a foot of snow on the region. But just in case, she booked a room with her fiance, Brett Monk, 23, of Phillipsburg, at Comfort Suites, which is near St. Luke's.
"I didn't think nothing of it," Modica said of the storm. "I didn't think it was going to be this bad. No."
Shortly before 8 a.m., Modica and her mother, Beth Slingland of Alpha, got into Slingland's Toyota Avalon and Monk got into Monk's Toyota Yaris. Both vehicles got stuck in the snow on the hill along West Third Street leading to the hospital.
"I looked out the window before we left and saw tow trucks doing circles around the Perkins (restaurant)," Singland said. "I thought we weren't going to have no issues."
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A Bethlehem police officer spotted the vehicle and helped Modica and her mother dig out. Other city employees and a tow truck driver helped salt and shovel the road, which allowed the car to eventually glide to the hospital, Modica said.
Modica arrived at the hospital about 9 a.m. -- an hour after the scheduled appointment. The Toyota Yaris, unfortunately, continued to get stuck, which caused Monk to travel back down the hill and walk to the hospital in blustery conditions.
Baby Jaxon James entered in the world at 11:46 a.m., weighing 8 pounds, 1 ounce and measuring 20.5 inches. Modica said Tuesday evening she and the baby were healthy and doing well.
And she has a great story to tell Jaxon someday about his birth. She plans to scribble the tale in his baby book.
"If only he knew what we went through to get here," Modica said with a laugh.
Pamela Sroka-Holzmann may be reached at pholzmann@lehighvalleylive.com. Follow her on Twitter @pamholzmann. Find lehighvalleylive.com on Facebook.