CHARLOTTE, N.C. — An Asheville woman who was scheduled to have a C-section the day after Hurricane Helene hit was trapped on the side of a mountain with a breech baby when doctors moved quickly to save her and the child.
At just 3 weeks old, little Maya now sleeps soundly in her mother's arms. She'll hear quite the story someday about what it took to bring her into this world.
Courtney Mosser was 40 weeks pregnant with a C-section scheduled for Sept. 28 because her baby was in breech. However, that procedure didn't happen because Helene flooded the Asheville area the day before, trapping Courtney, her husband their 3-year-old son on top of the mountain where they live.
"We live 100 feet from the crest of the mountain, so pretty high up," Mosser said. We did have some water. It was like the mountains were full, water was cascading down."
There was so much water that the road to get off the mountain was impassable.
"The road was broken up by a river," Mosser said. "The neighborhood all came together and started filling it in to get us past, but when we got past that, there was a sinkhole that was 40 feet deep and maybe 4 feet of road left."
Conditions were so bad they couldn't even get out on foot.
"There was no way, even if we tried to hike out of it," she said. "We thought about that, but there were landslides on either side."
Her neighbors, many of whom didn't even know their family, banded together to help.
"They all start hearing about me and they're gathering people who live on the mountain, a labor and delivery nurse, a paramedic," Mosser said.
Despite no power or internet and very limited phone service, word got out to emergency officials about the situation. Dr. C.J. Atkinson, a Charlotte doctor with Novant Health, was helping with mountain relief efforts when he received word that there was someone on the side of a mountain needing care. He was initially told Mosser was in active labor but was relieved to find out that wasn't the case.
Mosser remembers the moment he appeared in her neighborhood after getting a ride from a state trooper.
"A doctor and paramedic come out and they say, 'Are you Courtney? We're here to take you on the helicopter,'" Mosser shared.
What happened next might've been the hardest moment for the young mother.
"I said, 'Can Justin and Dylan come?' They said no, that was the moment I lost it because then Justin would miss her birth and I've never spent a night away from Dylan," Mosser said. "It was going to be without service and he's on a mountain and I don't know when they're getting out."
Atkinson knew he had to convince Mosser that she must leave.
"I said to her, 'Do you trust me?'" Atkinson said. "She said, 'I just met you,' so I rephrased it and said I need you to trust me and get on this helicopter because you have a tight window to get off this mountain and I'm not sure when we'll be able to come back."
With Asheville's hospital on a generator and running low on critical supplies, Mosser opted to come to Novant's hospital in Charlotte to deliver Maya. Her husband and son were able to be with her after neighbors worked feverishly to fill in enough of the road so they could get down the mountain. Then, a family in Charlotte heard their story and gave them a place to stay for three weeks until they could get back home.
"We got in on Monday and by Tuesday evening they had a place for me to stay and the porch was filled with clothes for Dylan, clothes for me because I didn't have clothes and clothes for Maya," Mosser said. "I'm overwhelmingly grateful."
Mosser and her daughter are doing well and the family has since returned home to Asheville. She says she can't wait to tell Maya her incredible birth story.
"She was breech, came in with a hurricane and then she was born on an eclipse, so I feel like she's going to be a pretty powerful little being, so I'll tell her all that," Mosser said.
Michelle Boudin at mboudin@wcnc.com and follow her on Facebook, X and Instagram.