This woman's story of giving birth in a hotel room is a roller coaster
Warning: do NOT try this at home.
You think you had a crazy birth story? Well strap yourself in, ladies and gentleman because 22-year-old Tia Freeman's birth is mind-blowing.
She gave birth alone, in a foreign country, in a hotel bathroom and googled how to do it all herself.
First things first, Tia didn't know she was pregnant until the thirst trimester, and even then, she was in denial.
I didn’t know I was pregnant for awhile (already in my 3rd trimester) and before you ask the birth control I was on made it so I didn’t have a cycle every month. So not having a period wasn’t an indicator for me. On top of that I didnt really gain any weight.
Me when I found: pic.twitter.com/An5QA3hX8A
— Tia Freeman (@TheWittleDemon) 24 April 2018
She was working away from home, so decided not to tell anyone.
"My dumbass was like maybe it’ll just go away…" she writes on the craziest Twitter thread.
She had already bought tickets for a trip from America to Germany through Turkey, so she decided that "ya girl was not about to waste international flight money. So I was like if the boy comes on time I should be all good in the hood."
And got on a 14 hour long flight while in her third trimester. That this point was want to reach through the screen and tell her to get her ass off the flight. But no, she continues with her plans, even, wait for it, ordering SALMON on the plane.
We're facepalming so hard right now.
THEN she starts having contractions. So she had a nap, of course…
I’m like oooooh shit where are these cramps coming from? You know what I’ll just go to sleep. Sleep cures everything right pic.twitter.com/z9QcUxdMtD
— Tia Freeman (@TheWittleDemon) 24 April 2018
She lands and the contractions have intensified. To make matters even worse, customs at Istanbul is severely backlogged. Gripping the handrail, she pulls herself through the queue.
I’m literally gripping the railing trying to make it through the lines. At this point I feel like I’m about to pass out. I’m sweating. I feel like I have to vomit. I’m going through it. Then I’m like wait a minute bitch are you in labor?!!! pic.twitter.com/p6SMEfunP0
— Tia Freeman (@TheWittleDemon) 24 April 2018
Unsure as to whether or not she's experiencing labour- she googles it. Realising that she needed to wait for her water to break, she hops in a taxi to the hotel.
I make it to my hotel & now I’m sure I’m in labor. There is no way in the world I’m not in labor because I can barely standup at this point. So I’m in a foreign country, where no one speaks english, I don’t know this country’s emergency number, & I have no clue what to do. pic.twitter.com/sk6k10zdu5
— Tia Freeman (@TheWittleDemon) 24 April 2018
She Youtubes how to give birth. We. Can't. Deal.
She decided on a water birth in the hotel bathroom. Tia says that at this point the adrenaline had kicked in, so she had no time to be nervous.
It’s weird how focused a person becomes when they’re adrenaline starts going. Because at no point ever did I freak out. Like I just did what I had to do.
— Tia Freeman (@TheWittleDemon) 24 April 2018
She then uses the timer on her phone to track the contractions. She bite down on a towel and pushes.
Luckily it happened pretty quickly. I only had to push about 5-6x before a baby popped out. Lol now let me tell you babies are buoyant. That little joker said bloop and floated right on up to the top of the water pic.twitter.com/IuqwKXFb2L
— Tia Freeman (@TheWittleDemon) 24 April 2018
It's a baby boy! But there's still one major thing to take care of- the placenta.
Warning Viewer Discretion is Advised
So I’m sitting with Young Xay laying on my chest waiting for the placenta to pass. The internet told me to rub my lower abdomen to persuade my placenta to come on out. So her I am baby in one arm rubbing my pelvis with the other hand lol
— Tia Freeman (@TheWittleDemon) 24 April 2018
Eventually, this bad ass woman passes it in the toilet. She googles (yes we are sensing a theme here too) how to cut the umbilical chord.
Using the hotel kettle, she sterilises some shoelaces and ties the umbilical chord, using a pocket knife to cut the chord. At this point the story turns from thriller to horror as Tia turns her attention to the state of the bathroom where she just gave birth.
So I clean up the bathroom, breastfeed my baby, and go to sleep. No I do not go to the hospital I take my ass to bed. so the next day I wake up for and get ready to go to the airport because I already paid for the cab the night before & even though I knew I couldn’t fly out
— Tia Freeman (@TheWittleDemon) 25 April 2018
Unsure what to do with her new baby, Tia brings him to the airport- where chaos ensues. Airport staff, realising that the baby is a newborn, think that Tia is a human trafficker trying to smuggle out the baby.
So they called in customs, the police, a doctor & a nurse (to check the baby & me to see if I actually gave birth), and the airline higher ups. I was bombarded with questions (naturally) but finally I proved that I wasn’t a trafficker. During this I called the @USEmbassyTurkey. pic.twitter.com/HH9zQybcHB
— Tia Freeman (@TheWittleDemon) 25 April 2018
Turkish Airlines provides Tia a shuttle to the US Embassy, to make matters even stranger, there's Turkish press everywhere. After sorting out little Xavier's passport and birth certificate, the pair are taken to a hospital to be checked out.
Thanks to the massive publicity Tia's birth story generated for Turkish Airlines, she was given two weeks free accommodation until Xavier was old enough to fly home.
When arriving back in the states, Tia sprang the new arrival on her friends and family- who had no idea that she was pregnant.
Baby Xavier is now healthy and happy, and his mother still reeling from her crazy ordeal.
Here he is Xavier Ata Freeman born March 7, 2018 in Istanbul, Turkey! My little surprise bundle of international joy!
(His middle name is Turkish) pic.twitter.com/HVlnvqEClQ
— Tia Freeman (@TheWittleDemon) 25 April 2018
You honestly couldn't make this stuff up. Even the responses from Twitter were hilarious.
Na.. women are insanely superhuman .. this story is crazy .https://t.co/Ez2yUaHx3K
— Wale (@Wale) 25 April 2018
You know when the hero of the movie is in a hotel bathroom removing bullets and stitching his own wounds? That's how I'm imagining it… but way more gangsta. https://t.co/ALl5R7CD0m
— Belly Rowland (@JustInNotOut) 25 April 2018
“Fine. I’ll do it myself.” -Black Women https://t.co/rNEA1pQjGB
— A L I K. (@MalikThaElite) 25 April 2018
We're exhausted just reading about it! As amazing as Tia's story is, it's definitely not something that we will not be trying in the near future.