OXNARD : Woman Gives Birth in Clinic Office

When Maribel Vergaras stopped by the Oxnard office of Clinicas del Camino Real for an appointment Monday evening, her physician expected to find the pregnant woman in the early stages of labor.

Twenty minutes later, Vergaras became the first woman to give birth at the nonprofit clinic in 22 years, delivering a healthy 6-pound, 3-ounce daughter in a hastily fashioned maternity ward.

“It was quite a surprise,” said Dr. Victor Pulido, who had examined the expectant mother three times earlier in the day at Ventura County Medical Center.

During Vergaras’ third hospital visit at 3 p.m., Pulido noted that the 21-year-old Oxnard woman was no closer to giving birth than she had been in the morning. Complicating the situation was the fact that Vergaras had given birth to a son two years before by Cesarean section, Pulido said.

As her husband Efrian sat down to dinner, Vergaras said, the labor pains became so acute that she wasn’t sure she could make it to the hospital.

“My husband was unable to finish his dinner,” she said in Spanish on Tuesday at the county hospital. “He rushed me to the clinic ahead of my 7 p.m. appointment.”

By the time Pulido saw Vergaras at 7:10 p.m., birth was imminent.

At the Ventura County Medical Center, where mother and daughter were later taken, hospital staff gushed over the infant. “We call her the queen bee of the nursery,” said Suzanne Jury of little Janele.