New Jersey Governor-elect Mikie Sherrill may have flown helicopters for the U.S. Navy, served four terms in Congress and trounced Trump-anointed opponent Jack Ciattarelli to become the second-ever woman to hold the state’s top office, but on Monday, late-night host Stephen Colbert nudged her into revealing one more feat.
After getting the lowdown on Sherrill’s 14-point margin over Republican Ciattarelli and hearing her take on health, immigration and the economy, Colbert convinced the mom of four into regaling the audience with an incredible tale of DIY childbirth — in a taxi cab.
“You’re a Navy helicopter pilot, that’s kind of badass to have done,” said Colbert, who also lives in New Jersey and endorsed the Democrat in the race. “But I understand that you did something even more badass not far from this theater, over on the East Side. Tell people what happened.”
What happened was a mix of karma and do-not-try-this-at-home, Sherrill related. Pregnant with her second child (who’s now in the Navy himself), Sherrill found herself unable to resist lampooning the “How to Deliver Your Own Baby” chapter in “What to Expect When You’re Expecting.”
“For the woman on the go, who doesn’t have time to go to the hospital, here’s a do-it-yourself life hack,” she joked. “I’d been making a lot of fun of this chapter.”
Then it was time. Her contractions a mere 45 seconds apart, she and husband Jason Hedberg headed across Central Park to the hospital in a cab.
“We get halfway across the park, and my water breaks,” Sherrill said. “I’m like, ‘I’m having this baby in the cab.’ And Jason, my husband, goes, ‘Don’t push.’”
The audience roared. A shocked Colbert put his face in his hands.
“I can tell from the audience’s response, for anyone who’s had a baby, that’s not really an option. That’s not on the table,” Sherrill said. “I just looked at him.”
Wedged in traffic, their white-knuckled cab driver pulled over, and Jason ran for help.
“Luckily I have read the chapter, so I know exactly what I’m doing here,” Sherrill said. “Delivering my own baby.”
Deliver she did, with the help of a hospital worker who happened to see Sherrill while waiting for a bus. By the time Hedberg returned, Sherrill was blissfully cradling their newborn son.
“He looks at me, and I’m holding our son,” she said. “And he looks down, and he looks at me again, and he goes, ‘I thought I told you not to push!’”
With News Wire Services
