Woman Gives Birth During Work Shift at FedEx Facility After Not Knowing She Was Pregnant

An Iowa woman’s workday at FedEx ended with a surprise she never saw coming.

On Monday, Jan. 26, Amethyst Blumberg gave birth to a baby boy while working at a FedEx facility in Grimes, according to local outlets KCCI and KENS 5. Blumberg said she didn’t know she was pregnant.

She told KCCI she was wrapping up her shift around 8 a.m. when she suddenly felt an urgent need to use the restroom.

“After that, I couldn’t even get off the toilet,” Blumberg told KCCI and KENS 5, adding that she managed to call for help by opening the door.

“I get up, and I’m like, I feel his head,” she said.

The Johnston-Grimes Fire District arrived just minutes before the baby was delivered and helped with the birth, according to KCCI. Audio from radio traffic captured the urgency of the moment: “We are delivering the baby now,” someone said, per the outlet.

A medic told KCCI they arrived at 8:29 a.m., and the baby was born four minutes later at 8:33 a.m.

Blumberg ultimately delivered her son on the floor of her workplace, according to KENS 5. She and her baby — named Onyx King Easterlie — were taken to the hospital and were reported to be healthy and resting.

The newborn weighed 6 lbs. 8 oz. and measured 19 inches long.

Now a mother of two, Blumberg said this pregnancy felt completely different from her first — so different that she didn’t suspect anything was unusual.

“With my first one, I had all the symptoms,” she told KCCI. “With this one, I had nothing at all. I was losing weight at work.”

She said the only signs appeared at the very end.

“The only thing I felt was when my back started hurting from back labor,” Blumberg told KCCI. “And when he was descending, I felt him move.”

Calling her son “perfect,” she added, “Our FedEx baby.”

Nick Pearson of the Johnston-Grimes Fire District said the outcome was what mattered most.

“I’ve seen a lot of things in my field, so I don’t get too much surprised anymore,” Pearson said. “I’m just very happy that she was healthy and the baby was healthy.”

FedEx and the Johnston-Grimes Metropolitan Fire District were contacted for comment.

Earlier this month, a woman in Zion, Illinois, described a similar experience after going into labor on Christmas Day without knowing she was pregnant. Melanie Smith, 28, told NBC Chicago she went to a hospital in Waukegan with severe stomach pain. Doctors determined she was nine months pregnant, and her baby boy, Vincent, was born weighing 8 lbs.