This Maid of Honor Almost Gave Birth at Her Friend’s Wedding

There is one unbreakable law of weddings: Nothing should steal the show from the bride and groom on their big day. One maid of honor in Australia took this rule very seriously and managed not to tell the bride that she was in labor during the entire wedding.

“I was in early labor pretty much all day,” maid of honor Karla Barry told the West Australian about the November wedding of her best friend, Katie Letton. “Katie’s mum was a midwife, so she monitored me and made sure I was OK. I just didn’t want to ruin Katie’s day, so we didn’t tell her.”

While the bride was in the dark, Barry’s partner, Adam Hitchcock, said other guests lent their support. “Everyone in the bridal party had kids before and knew what she was going through, so that was really helpful,” he said. Though the baby wasn’t due for another week, Hitchcock had a gut feeling the little one would arrive early and insisted they bring their hospital bag to the wedding.

Groom Jeremy Letton told the Daily Mail Australia that his mother-in-law clued him in about Barry’s situation after the ceremony. “They are a top couple,” Letton said. “Good people and good friends. A lot of people would have just left the wedding.”

Barry managed to make it through the ceremony and photos before the contractions really kicked in. “It was my biggest concern — either walking down the aisle, having photos taken, or during the first dance that my water would break,” Barry told the West Australian. Finally, at 10 p.m., she told the bride she was leaving to give birth.

“Driving to the hospital, I was trying to get my bridesmaid dress off,” Barry said. “It was clipped and hooked, and I was having contractions at the same time. It was a bit of an exciting day,” Barry said. Son Xavier arrived at 2 a.m. the next morning.

Little Xavier’s not the first baby to try to upstage a wedding. In 2014, Yorkshire, England, schoolteacher Lucy Morris walked down the aisle for her sister’s wedding while in labor, a week after her due date. She made it until the reception, when she rushed off to the hospital, she told the Daily Mail. Queensland, Australia, bridesmaid Melissa White never made it to her friend Bernadette Beahan’s wedding last year. White had her baby on the morning of, so Beahan decided to take a detour to visit the new mom with the rest of her bridesmaids before she got hitched.

North Carolina friends Leslie Leith and Charley Norman joked that Leith would have her baby while serving as Norman’s matron of honor. Much to their surprise, that’s almost what happened. Leith left right after Norman’s ceremony and had her son two hours later.

“It was epic,” Norman told WBTV. “And it just added to such an amazing day.”

This is taking “something new” to another level, ladies.

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