OKLAHOMA CITY (KFOR) — It was 18 years ago when a pregnant Oklahoma woman knew her baby couldn’t wait until arriving at the hospital to be born into this world. Now, the so-called “Highway Baby” is about to graduate high school.
“She was stubborn. She wanted to come on her own time,” Shanda Hampton said.
On July 31, 2006, a then-pregnant Shanda Hampton woke up in extreme pain. Her family called an ambulance.
“I kept telling them I wasn’t going to make it to the hospital,” Hampton told NewsNation affiliate KFOR back in 2006. “He lifted up the blanket. He was like, ‘Baby’s here. Pull over.'”
Delivering the baby on the side of the Interstate 44 in southwest Oklahoma City was a first for the paramedic.
“(I was) takin’ care of all the important things, but you’re doing it with a big grin on your face. Nothing really beats this,” Jeremy, the paramedic, told KFOR a couple days after the birth.
“43 minutes of pain and that was it,” Hampton said.
Now, the “Highway Baby” is nearly 18. In May, Kamryanna Smith will graduate from Western Heights High School.
“I’m graduating with (a) 4.0,” GPA, Smith said.
“She cries when she gets a ‘B.’ So, I don’t have to worry about grades,” Hampton said of her daughter.
When Smith isn’t hitting the books, you’ll find her with friends or working at her part-time job.
“I shop like all the girly places,” Smith said. “I’m very expensive because I like expensive things. Toes, doing my hair, I get my makeup done. None of it’s cheap!”
After graduation, Smith wants to go to college then into the medical field, just like the paramedics who brought her into the world and the mother, a medical assistant, who gave her life.
Smith’s goal is already in the works.
“I also graduate from Francis Tuttle in May as well with my CMA, my certified medical assistant,” Smith said.
Smith also received her CNA, certified nurses assistant, last year. It’s a full circle moment.
“It didn’t matter to me, I just wanted her to come out,” Hampton told KFOR in 2006.
And now that she’s here, “she’s excellent,” Hampton said.