GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (WXMI) – Pedicab drivers have lots of stories to share, but this one is not very common: a pregnant woman thinking she was in labor, wanting a ride to the hospital.
Jamie and Andrew Monber of Sparta, Michigan, say they already went to the hospital earlier in the day Thursday, but that turned out to be a false alarm. That's when they went to grab a burger at Stella's, a lounge in Grand Rapids, Michigan, for its four-year anniversary, but that was just where their whirlwind night began.
"I'm thinking, want to go to a concert, maybe speed things up, we love music, we're music lovers in the first place," said Andrew Monber.
Two days past Jamie Monber's due date, the couple was up to try anything, and just hours before the Brantley Gilbert concert in downtown Grand Rapids, they were able to get some free tickets. But after the show, Jamie Monber started having labor pains and needed to go the hospital. She thought she might be having the baby.
Andrew Monber says he had a little bit to drink and didn't want to pay for the ambulance ride or wait for a taxi to come.
"I'm having eight-minute contractions, but it's not like I have to rush, rush to hospital," Jamie said.
That's when they came across the pedicab front and center outside of the Van Andel Arena. Stephen King, driver of the Green Machine Pedicab, says Andrew Monber asked, "How fast can you get to St. Mary's Hospital?" He said he was going as fast as he could, cutting and weaving through people.
But once they made it to the hospital a few blocks away, they had the last surprise for the night. There was still no baby — it was another false alarm.
"Any time, though, any time, just waiting for her to come out. She's being a stubborn little girl," Jamie Monber said. It's a story they say they'll be sure to tell their daughter once she is finally born.