A couple at Burning Man were met with an unexpected guest one night in their R.V. camper.
In a statement to Today.com, a representative from the Burning Man Project stated that a baby was “unexpectedly” born on August 27 in Black Rock City, Nevada, the site of the annual festival.
According to Kayla Thompson in The New York Times, she was asleep next to her husband, Kasey Thompson, in their R.V. camper when she began experiencing intense “pain.”
As reported by Kayla Thompson to the publication, just “minutes later” she delivered the couple’s first child in the camper’s bathroom, welcoming a baby girl weighing 3 pounds and 9 ounces.
The couple told The New York Times in the interview that they hadn’t been planning for a child, nor was Kayla Thompson aware that she was pregnant.
She explained that she didn’t appear pregnant and “didn’t have any symptoms” of pregnancy.
“Even the nurses at the hospital were like, ‘You don’t look like you were pregnant at all,’” she told the publication.
Following the birth, Kasey Thompson recounted how he dashed outside the R.V. to call out for “anyone to come help us.” He was soon surrounded by a neonatal care nurse, a pediatric doctor, and an obstetrician-gynecologist, along with other festival attendees, he shared in the interview.
Medical staff from Burning Man arrived to assist and, according to the statement provided to TODAY.com, Kayla Thompson and her newborn were initially taken to the festival’s emergency care facility before being transferred to a hospital in Reno, Nevada.
The couple explained to The New York Times that only the baby could be airlifted to the hospital, while Kayla Thompson traveled by ambulance. Kasey Thompson faced the dilemma of either ensuring the newborn’s safe helicopter journey or staying alongside his wife in that moment.
Calling it “the hardest decision of my life,” he said he was encouraged to accompany his wife and chose to ride with her to the hospital.
When they arrived, the couple recalled that Kayla Thompson was taken to a room, while Kasey Thompson went to see their baby girl in the neonatal intensive care unit.
“She was safe and sound, and I was so thrilled,” Kasey Thompson said.
“Burning Man Project would like to extend congratulations and well-wishes to the family,” the spokesperson said in a statement. “In the midst of wind, heat, and storms, they brought new life into the world in Black Rock City. Of all the things we celebrate at Burning Man, bringing life, connection, transformation, and joy are dearest to our hearts.”
