A Black pregnant woman sent home from a Virginia naval hospital after showing signs she had gone into labor ended up having her baby in her home bathtub.
LeeAnn Bienaime told CBS affiliate WTKR that when she was told to go home after arriving at Naval Medical Center Portsmouth around 8:30 p.m. August 23, she and her husband took the 25-minute drive back home.
What the hospital didn’t take into account was Bienaime’s high pain tolerance.
“I was told that I should come back when my contractions were when you can’t really walk and you can’t really talk through them,” she said.
That moment never came.
Instead, her baby, Joachim, started to crown while Bienaime was walking back and forth to the bathroom, she said.
It was less than four hours after the hospital trip, WTKR reported.
“I had to let instinct take over and just go with it and kind of release myself to the experience,” Bienaime said.
Joachim was born August 24, WTKR reported.
“We were able to have a healthy birth, a healthy baby boy — that’s why I’m not completely enraged,” Bienaime said. “I feel like if it had gone another way, it would’ve been a different story.”
Shauna O’Sullivan, a spokeswoman for the hospital, told WTKR in a statement that the hospital “is committed to ensuring the safety of every patient and providing high quality care.”
“Whenever a patient has a concern about their care and treatment, we welcome the opportunity to discuss this with them and resolve any potential issues,” Sullivan said. “Due to HIPAA, we cannot discuss anything specific on an individual’s medical treatment without their authorization.
“The patient has been contacted directly about her care while here at NMCP.”
Bienaime told WTKR if she could do it again, she “would’ve sat in the waiting room and just not left.”
“We would’ve pitched a tent. We would’ve started a fire. We would’ve just straight-up camped,” new dad Leo Bienaime said jokingly.
He said after the birth, he snapped a few pictures of his newborn and showed them to people.
“Everyone that we showed the picture to was like, ‘Wait, why is there shampoo in the background?'” he said. “Don’t try this at home.”
