I Had No Idea, Aussie Mum Gives Birth in Hurricane Milton

Giving birth in a hurricane is crazy enough. Giving birth without realising you are pregnant is also insane. Giving birth in a foreign country is another next-level situation.

Aussie mum Dayna experienced all three as she unexpectedly found herself in labour in a hotel in Florida during Hurricane Milton. Now, the two surprised parents and their newborn are trying to return to Australia from America, which is becoming a legal roller coaster.

‘Good Morning, You’re a Dad’

Dayna and her fiance Tony, from Raymond Terrace, NSW, were on a dream trip to Florida to visit Disney World when the hurricane warning hit. The couple did ALL the Disney things, including riding roller coasters and walking several thousand steps daily. However, Hurricane Milton’s impending arrival meant the couple had to remain in their hotel room until the severe storm passed.

Dayna had no idea she was pregnant, let alone full term, as the couple prepared to bunker down in their Florida hotel to await the storm.

As Hurricane Milton made landfall, Dayna started to feel bloated. She went to the bathroom and took a laxative. At 5 am, as she was in the bathroom, she delivered a baby girl on the hotel bathroom floor. Tony was asleep just metres away. To make the situation even more insane, there was no power due to the storm, so Dayna couldn’t see what was going on fully.

“All of a sudden, then I knew when the baby was crying,” Dayna told media outlets.

Her fiancé Tony was asleep when Audrey arrived, and he woke up to the bizarre news.

“When I first woke up I thought, ‘This is the weirdest dream ever’,” he said. “Good morning, you’re a dad.”

A sly surprise birth

The couple called paramedics, however with no elevators working due to the power outage, the paramedics had to use a stretcher to carry Dayna down four flights of stairs before rushing her and her to a nearby hospital.

Dayna and Tony named their unexpected hurricane bub Audrey Sly, and she is perfectly healthy.

“I can’t believe how well she’s doing, considering some of the stuff mum was doing like going on rides and on a plane at 41 weeks pregnant,” Dayna told Weekend Today. “I had absolutely no idea and really had no symptoms.”

Stuck in Florida post Hurricane Milton

This is where this story takes a bad turn.

Dayna, Tony and Audrey are still in Florida, trying to find ways to get the three of them home to Australia. Luckily, the couple did purchase travel insurance, but unfortunately, it’s not as simple as hopping on a plane.

Baby Audrey was born in the USA, so technically, she has an American birth certificate. However, as her parents are Australian, Audrey can claim descent and apply for Australian citizenship and an Aussie passport. Wonderful! But, however, anyone who has ever tried to get a passport knows this can take time.

“They said it could be anywhere from a minimum of two months to 5-7 months,” Tony added.

“When we got the paperwork, it’s asking us questions like ‘can you confirm if you’ve known this person for 12 months?” Dayna said.

“How’s that possible with a newborn that’s two days old?”

Dayna and Tony have accommodation in Florida booked for another ten days and hope they won’t have to wait months to return home.

“We’re Australian citizens… we [can’t] live here for almost a year. We would love to go back to Australia. We’re quite stressed about it. I’ve got to get home… We don’t know if they’re going to let us home.”

Applications are assessed on a “case-by-case basis”. Hopefully, Audrey’s unique situation will speed things up, they get some consular assistance and the new family can return home to New South Wales. What a crazy holiday!