Vacaville, California-California mother Emily Johnson and her husband Michael got quite a surprise when their baby arrived 3 weeks earlier than anticipated. Being in her third trimester of pregnancy, Johnson explained that her contradictions started November 4, which was a week before the baby was due. “We were in no rush”, Johnson explains to KCRA-TV, “because our house is only a 5-minute drive from the hospital. Then, however, the contractions went from three minutes to two minutes to one minute in a matter of 20 to 30 minutes, and we are like, ‘Oh, we got to get into the car; we have to go’”.

By the time the couple could even enter the car, however, Johnson explained it was too late and they would not make it to the hospital in time. “I’m just like, ‘I’m going to get on the grass,’” she recalled. “‘I’m going to be here. This is my spot.’” Within minutes, Johnson’s doorbell camera footage shows Johnson giving birth to her live baby in her own front yard! Emergency responders arrived within 5 minutes of the baby’s birth and the couple was escorted to the hospital safely with their new baby Thomas

Johnson’s mother Kristy Sparks also aided in delivering Johnson’s baby. “By the time they walked up to me, I had a baby in my arms crying”, said Sparks, weeping. “It was unreal”. The whole event was caught by the doorbell camera facing the Johnson’s house. It was dark outside with the main source of light being from the ambulance. We can hear Emily uncomfortably crying while Kristy and Michael are on opposite sides of Emily, aiding in delivering the child. Within minutes, however, their baby Thomas was born. The footage can be found here: https://ring.com/share/4ca09e6f-b3a0-4d63-8370-8c1849c37de0

“I’m just thankful that I was facing in that direction because otherwise, I don’t think we’d be able to share the video footage with anybody,” says Johnson. “I joke that I was like a cow giving birth in the field because once I got to the hospital, I had grass clippings falling right off me and the nurses were wiping dirt off my knee and I’m like, ‘Oh, I did give birth in the lawn.’”