Woman gives birth after running a marathon. What did you do just before you went into labor?
Avid runner Amber Miller, 27, participated in the Chicago marathon last weekend, crossing the finish line with her husband, grabbing a bite to eat, and then heading over to the hospital to give birth to a baby girl.
"It was very interesting hearing people's reaction," Miller told ABC News, describing the crowds watching an extremely pregnant woman running the route. "I've been running up to this point anyway, so I'm used to it."
She's run in seven other marathons, two of them while pregnant, but this was the first time she clocked 26.2 miles while carrying an almost full-term baby. It took her about 6 hours and 26 minutes-nearly twice as long as her usual time-but since she was 38 weeks and five days pregnant, she cut herself a little slack.
"I was having a conversation with my parents and said, 'You know what? I have no plans of actually finishing,'" she told reporters. "I was planning on running half, skipping to the end, then walking across the finish line."
Instead, she ran about half, then slowed down and walked the rest when she started having contractions.
She's not the only superwoman out there. In January, 41-year-old Susie Weber noticed that her contractions were coming about three minutes apart, so she took herself to the hospital-on her bike.
"It was 67 to 70 degrees. No wind. It was just beautiful," she said of the ride to her baby's birth. "I think I had one or two contractions along the way, but they actually seemed mild in comparison. I think it was because I was distracted."
Both women got clearance from their doctors before their strenuous adventures, and both had been running and cycling (respectively) throughout their pregnancies.
There are plenty of women who work right up until the day they give birth; one Northwestern Law School student went into labor while taking the bar exam, finished early and gave birth to her son two hours later-and still passed with flying colors.
We're in awe. But we bet that far fewer of us are getting in one last workout or acing a career-changing exam right before heading to the hospital.
What were you doing when you went into labor?
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