Surprise Baby Born At Burning Man With Help From Bay Area Nurse

BLACK ROCK CITY, NV — A Bay Area nurse helped deliver a baby born to a woman who didn’t know she was pregnant last week at Burning Man, according to KGO.

Maureen O’Reilly of Berkeley was brewing coffee about 8:30 a.m. Aug. 27 at the festival in Black Rock City, Nevada, when her campmates ran over and told her someone had given birth, KGO reported, adding O’Reilly arrived at the woman’s vehicle just as the cord was being cut.

"She did not look pregnant, not one bit!" O’Reilly said of the woman, who was 35 weeks pregnant, according to the outlet.

Another nurse and a doctor at the festival handed O’Reilly the baby, named Aurora, according to KGO.

"I started yelling at people to turn the heat on, to get me some blankets," O’Reilly told KGO, adding medics eventually came to take the infant, who was airlifted to a Reno hospital.

At less than 4 pounds, the baby required time in the neonatal intensive care unit, according to a GoFundMe started for the infant and her parents.

“My brother and his wife had no idea they were expecting, and their little one made her dramatic entrance while they were out of state at Burning Man,” Lacey Paxman wrote on the fundraiser webpage.

“Since this is their first child and the pregnancy was completely unexpected, my brother and his wife don’t have anything prepared—no baby supplies, no nursery, nothing at all. On top of that, the unexpected circumstances have created a heavy financial burden: NICU care (with no release date yet), medical bills, and travel and lodging expenses while they are far from home.”

As of mid-day Wednesday, the GoFundMe had raised over $16,000. Paxman described the child as “safe, beautiful, and deeply loved.”