# @downinnadesert on Instagram

- **Type:** Image
- **Original URL:** https://www.instagram.com/p/DdFEdXimzjf
- **Gondola URL:** https://gondola.cc/posts/70300006-downinnadesert-instagram
- **Thumbnail:** https://img.gondola.cc/tr:w-,h-,fo-auto/postThumbnails/af2c0e9ff7.jpg
- **Posted:** 2026-09-09T20:00:03.000+00:00
- **Account Owner:** Down In The Desert🌵 (@downinnadesert) — https://gondola.cc/downinnadesert

## Caption

She knew she wasn’t ready to leave the hospital. A few hours later, she ended up giving birth in the passenger seat of her car during an Arizona monsoon.

Regena Felix went into labor with her fifth child on July 13. She and her husband, Frankie, drove roughly 30 miles from Casa Grande to Mercy Gilbert Medical Center, but after several hours, Regena says she was sent home to continue laboring.

She told 12News she pushed back because they lived nowhere near the hospital.

On the drive home, everything changed fast. With no time to turn around, the couple pulled into a casino parking lot as Regena delivered their daughter, Noa, in the passenger seat of their brand-new car.

The umbilical cord was wrapped around the baby’s neck. Frankie helped unwrap it and finish the delivery before they headed back to the hospital. Regena says when he called ahead, staff responded, “I hope this isn’t the patient we just sent home.”

It was.

Thankfully, both mom and baby made it home healthy. Regena says she hopes sharing what happened encourages other women to speak up when they feel something isn’t right.

Mercy Gilbert said it could not discuss specific patient care because of privacy laws, but said it is committed to treating patients with dignity and respect.

And Regena already knows what’s happening to that car someday. She says it’s the one Noa will be driving to high school. 

Have you ever been sent home from a hospital or doctor’s office when you felt like something was seriously wrong?

Send us your Arizona stories to be featured on the page.

#Arizona #CasaGrande #Gilbert #Phoenix #ArizonaNews

## Stats

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## Tags

casagrande, arizonanews, gilbert, arizona, phoenix

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