Giving birth in a Kmart parking lot off Belair Road wasn't part of Amber Noll's pregnancy plan, but she said that's what happened after a hospital sent her home Monday morning because she wasn't far enough along.
Noll, who already has two young girls, felt contractions overnight and headed to the University of Maryland St. Joseph Medical Center in Towson around 4 a.m. July 1, about a week ahead of her July 9 due date. She said workers there claimed she wasn't dilated enough to be admitted, however.
"They said I shouldn't come back until I couldn't talk through contractions," Noll said. A St. Joseph spokeswoman said the hospital "couldn't comment on patient matters."
Noll and her husband George returned home to Dundalk around 7 a.m. that day. A few hours later, the contractions ramped up, coming in an intense wave of five or six in a row. Noll called a friend to care for her kids, and she and her husband headed back to St. Joe's shortly after 11 a.m.
At 11:38, driving in their Dodge Caravan on Interstate 695, Noll realized they weren't going to make it. Her husband called 911, and took an exit in Fullerton, knowing that fire station 8 was right around the corner. He pulled into a Kmart parking lot, off to the side where there was little potential for onlookers and parked.