They ever-so-narrowly avoided having a child born out of wedlock.
A Missouri couple tied the knot at the hospital just moments before the bride gave birth to their first child.
Sara and Brandon Perry had planned to marry on Feb. 16, but Sara’s water broke five weeks early, prompting them to move up the nuptials to the day before Valentine’s Day.
“We wanted to be married before our son was born,” Brandon told KMBC-TV.
Once they arrived at the hospital, doctors told them they couldn’t leave to get hitched before the baby was born, so they improvised — asking an ordained minister whose wife was also admitted to the hospital in Lee’s Summit, southeast of Kansas City, to officiate the proceedings.
The couple made a dress out of hospital blankets and a veil out of gauze as they rushed to combine the two life milestones.
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“We said ‘yes,’ even though I was in between contractions,” Sara told the outlet of the shotgun ceremony.
“We also ended up having a bouquet because they had flowers around the hospital for Valentine’s Day,” she added.
The new family was soon rounded out by newborn baby Oliver, born just after midnight on Valentine’s Day.
“I literally blinked, and I was married and a dad within 12 hours,” Brandon Perry said. “It’s just a feeling of comfort and love and warmth instantaneously.”
Oliver and Sara were doing well and were expected to be released from the hospital later this week.