Evacuee rushes to Dallas hospital to give birth

[TexasStooge]

By STEVE STOLER / WFAA ABC 8

DALLAS, Texas - The Carrillo family just crossed the Louisiana border into Texas and decided to take a break when pregnant Maria Carrillo said her water broke.

"It was very nerve-racking," Carrillo said.

Her husband - shocked and surprised - said he began to panic.

"I was like, how fast can I go to Dallas?" said Daniel Carrillo.

He wasn't the only one scared.

"Am I going to get sick?" Maria Carrillo said she thought while driving through Texas searching for a safe place to have the baby. "Is the baby going to get sick? You know, are we going to make it to the hospital on time?"

With their two little boys in the car, the Carrillo didn't want to panic. But Daniel Carrillo didn't know if the small towns of East Texas had any hospitals. So, he headed straight to Dallas where at 3:00 a.m. he finally found RHD Memorial Medical Center.

Maria Carrillo had her baby at 1:58 p.m. and named the baby girl Amber Rayanne. And the family said they were happy to see that their little hurricane baby was healthy and very much alive.

"She got here safe, and not on the road somewhere or not in a shelter," Maria Carrillo said.

And her husband was also relieved things didn't take a turn for the worst.

"It wasn't as bad as it could have been," her husband said. "I mean, we could have gotten stuck in the middle of nowhere."

Hurricane Katrina's survivors will no doubt remember the storm for its fury and devastation, but the Carrillo will always remember it as a strange backdrop for the birth of their third child.

"Bottom line, the baby's healthy and she'll have a nice story to tell later on, or us to tell her when she's old enough," Daniel Carrillo said.