Meet the California Woman Who Gave Birth While Lost in the Woods for Days

Giving birth is no a walk in the park that’s for sure. But going into labor, when lost alone in the woods, with little water and food, and no help, while fending off bees and mosquitos? That’s definitely the most intense birth story we’ve ever heard.

A very pregnant Amber Pangborn was driving to her parent’s house when she started to feel labor pains, and decided to instead take a remote back road that she heard was faster, she told the NBC affiliate KCRA in nearby Sacramento, California. This turned out to be a poor choice when Pangborn realized that she was not only out of gas, but also in an area without cell reception.

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Pangborn had to give birth to her daughter, whom she named Marisa, alone in the woods. She then spent the next three days stuck, fighting off bees and mosquitos, hoping help would come while caring for her newborn and subsisting off a few apples and a little bit of water she had in the car. “I thought we were going to die,” Pangborn explained to KCRA.

By Saturday, she grew desperate, and decided to start a brush fire with hairspray and a lighter to signal for help, she said.

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“The whole side of the mountain caught on fire,” Pangborn said, in an on-camera interview with KCRA. “I was looking at Marisa and was like, ‘I think Mommy just started a forest fire.’”

U.S. Forest Service spokesman Chris French told the Associated Press that a helicopter pilot responding to a fire spotted a mother and infant in drought-ridden area, and the two were whisked off to the hospital while fire crews fought the flames. The fire was still under official investigation on Tuesday.

Pangborn’s mother and new grandma Dianna Williams told the Associated Press that both mom and baby are doing “great,” though the child was born underweight and is still at the UC Davis Medical Center.

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