Parents endure icy ride to deliver 1st baby of 2018 at Mission Hospital

ASHEVILLE - Rylie Keaton Nesbitt has her own agenda. And she won't let little details like a due date and a surprise ice storm sway her from her plans. 

The first baby born at Mission Hospital in 2018, Rylie was projected to arrive Jan. 11. But on New Year's Eve, it became clear that she did not plan to wait. And then the highway iced over.

Parents Courtney and Quenton Nesbitt, who live in Hendersonville, started the drive to the hospital around 5 p.m. after the new mother went into labor.

A trip that would ordinarily take just over 30 minutes took five times that long, with an ice layer the National Weather Service never saw coming slicking roads and snarling traffic all over Western North Carolina.

Traffic was nearly at a standstill on I-26, the new parents recalled. The car also seemed to have its own agenda, often refusing to come to a complete stop as the traffic demanded. 

"There were a few times we didn't think we were going to get stopped before we hit cars," Quenton Nesbitt said. "It was very icy, very slick, and we saw lots of cars wrecking. It was a little nerve-wracking."

But Courtney Nesbitt said her husband was "a champ," the very picture of calm. 

Quenton Nesbitt said his wife was equally unruffled. "She knew she was having contractions, but she was one of the rare cases where she didn't have much pain."

The soon-to-be mom was in so little pain, she suggested stopping for dinner at the Grove Park Inn, where the couple had reservations.

That notion that was rejected by her husband, which turned out to be a solid decision. About 45 minutes after her 7:30 p.m. arrival at Mission Hospital, Courtney Nesbitt went from 6 centimeters to fully dilated. 

Their new daughter would arrive at precisely 12:29 a.m., weighing exactly 6 pounds. 

Rylie's timing, her parents say, was perfect — given the circumstances. 

"If we would have wrecked or something, it would have been 911 for sure," her father said. 

"I've been telling everyone that God's timing is impeccable," his wife added. "(There were) two-and-a-half hours of consistent contractions, but not extremely painful. As soon as I got here and got in that bed, that first contraction was so much harder and stronger, and then it just flew by from there."

Given the events of the previous evening, the new family was serene on a frigid New Year's Day.

"You hear how much you will fall in love immediately and how you forget how life was before they get here, but it is true," said Courtney Nesbitt, gazing at the tiny baby cradled in her arms.

The new mom said she did not expect to have the first baby born at Mission Hospital in 2018. "Not until the ride over," quipped her husband.

But she added that she's a highly competitive person, and the nurses kept telling her she would win the distinction. Certainly that didn't cause Rylie to come faster?

"I just smiled and laughed, and it happened," Courtney Nesbitt said. 

Rylie, who seems to already move on her own timeline, slept as news cameras recorded her first hours on earth. 

 "We're exhausted, but we're so blessed," her mother noted. "It's a whirlwind of emotions, but we are ecstatic and she's our little miracle. What a great way to start a new year."