Baby arrives early, sending South Carolina mom into labor on Labor Day

CHARLOTTE, N.C. (WBTV) – On a day meant for taking a break, a York, South Carolina, mother labored for nearly five hours until her first child was born at 2:53 on Labor Day morning.

“When they told us about it being holiday, we didn’t think about it at first. I mean, we knew but brain-wise didn’t think about so they said, ‘Oh hey, by the way it was Labor Day. I was like, Oh, sounds about right.,’” recounted new mom Samantha Jakell.

Early Monday morning, she delivered seven pound, five ounce Knox Paul Jakell.

“I think I got anxious that he is halfway through because of how long it was,” said Jakell, “I didn’t think it was going to be as long as it was.”


He was due September 10 but decided he did not want to miss the holiday.

“He just does what he wants,” she joked. “We got here the morning of the 3rd at 12:30 a.m. And then I think we finally got moved into labor and delivery around 3 a.m. and was in the act of labor 10 p.m. till we were fully dilated and allowed to push. Yeah, and then we basically pushed all the way till 2:53 in the morning.

Although his arrival interrupted their Labor Day plans, she said he was a welcome holiday delivery.

She said, “[Now we are] just trying to sleep and make sure that we feed him pretty much since it’s our first we’re now trying to follow the rules that they gave us and watching some videos that they told us we gotta get done.”