Couple Gets Married in Hospital Because Her Water Broke

A couple had a lavish wedding planned when the bride-to-be, who was 33-weeks pregnant, was headed to the hospital because her water broke.

Nora Regis and her fiancé Michael Odland scrapped their May 10th nuptials for a maternity ward holy matrimony, instead. 

“You know what they say, you make plans and God laughs,” Odland, 38, from Sleepy Hollow, New York, told People of becoming a hubby and daddy to a little boy on the same day in late April. 

“We had a shower planned for him, I had a grad school final but he decided to come early,” added Regis, 38, a project manager pursuing her master’s degree. “So all those things have been put on hold.”

Upon Regis' water breaking, the partners-turned-parents — who’ve known each other since childhood, but only became a couple in 2022 — went straight to Northern Westchester Hospital in Mount Kisco, NY for an emergency C-section. 

“Our first thoughts were just trying to assess the risk and making the choice to do a C-section,” said Odland. “That kind of allowed us to ask, ‘If this is being scheduled, do you have a chaplain and can you marry us here?.’”

Valerie Goodwin, a nurse played quite the part in this unique marriage ceremony. 

“It was the most unusual request I think I’ve ever had in the 17 years I’ve been a nurse,” said Goodwin, 42. 

The couple had the hospital pro and her fellow labor & delivery staffers get together to make the makeshift wedding a success. 

Regis’ head was crowned with a veil made of hospital gauze and given a floral bouquet of blossoms picked from a display, while the scrappy nurses scrambled to find an officiant — at 11:00 pm on a weeknight.  

“We got bumped back by six or eight hours because there were others who needed to go first, so in that time the maternity nursing staff was working in the background,” said Odland. “They were calling everyone asking ‘Can anyone marry them?’”

Then, out of nowhere, Michael “Rev” Revenson, an EMS paramedic and a non-denominational officiant, appeared. 

“It was a last-ditch effort,” said Revenson. “My shift started at 11 p.m., so I said I can be right over.”

“They already had their vows and their marriage license so we were all set,” continued the clergyman — who Regis and Odland have nicknamed their “Emergency Marriage Technician.”

“The hospital and staff really went above and beyond for this,” added Revenson. 

Odland agrees. 

“The nurses formed an aisle around the front of the maternity ward desk that gave us a real wedding experience,” said the proud papa. “For me, it was just really moving.”

“It was really cool and sweet,” chimed Regis. “They were all so excited and it was really heartwarming.”

Her mom, Janet Brandstrader, rushed to the hospital and took on wedding photography duties just three hours before her grandson was born.

“So right after the wedding, we put on our scrubs,” said Odland. “We’re walking to the delivery room and it was like, that really did happen in the nick of time.”

His and Regis’ neonatal nuptials were similar to those of Missouri couple Sara and Brandon Perry, who exchanged vows “in between contractions” just before welcoming their baby on Feb. 13. 

Another couple, Brianna Lucca-Cerezo and her honey, Luis, too, said “I Do” while she was in active labor in late February. 

“I never heard of anyone getting married in a hospital before we did,” Lucca-Cerezo, a Florida transplant originally from New York, told Fox35. The nurse staff of AdventHealth Orlando arranged an ornate ceremony for the NYC sweeties just hours before they welcomed son Landon on Feb. 25.  

Lucca-Cerezo is forever grateful to the healthcare workers for all they do.

“They really made us feel like a part of the family,” she gushed. 

Source: NY POST