Woman gives birth, gets married hours later

Bride's unique 'something new' on wedding day Tamra Palmer had planned every detail of her ceremony, but had to make some last-minute changes after going into labour on her wedding day.

Most brides have their “something new” planned in advance, but Tamra Palmer’s arrived two weeks early in the back of an ambulance.

Palmer was in a Toronto hotel room on Saturday morning preparing for the big day when she began having stomach pains. When the pains got worse, the bridesmaids called an ambulance. “She has babies fast,” Palmer’s cousin Claudette, the maid of honour, said.

Eden Beverly Rose, Palmer’s second child, arrived just 15 minutes into the drive to Humber River Hospital. But the birth, which came two weeks early, wasn’t going to postpone the wedding day.

“I was determined to get married today,” Palmer told CTV Toronto. “I said: ‘Nothing is going to stop me to get married today.’“

The ceremony was moved to the hospital chapel, a small room that could hold only the closest friends and family. It still had all the hallmarks of a traditional wedding: the dress and veil, a flower girl sprinkling petals on the floor. But Palmer was in a wheelchair instead of on her feet and the newborn baby was front and centre, wrapped in a white blanket on a hospital cart.

“Yesterday we quipped about being on time,” joked the pastor. “Nobody consulted little Eden.”

With a report from CTV Toronto’s Nick Dixon