Local TV news anchor Olivia Jaquith has become a global sensation after her water broke minutes before the start of a live broadcast – but she continued to anchor the news for three hours straight.
Her son Quincy, just a few days old, has already become a global household name after the moment his mother, CBS6 morning news anchor Olivia Jaquith, experienced the start of labor live on air was widely shared on social media.
“I never thought this would go viral. I was completely shocked,” Jaquith told CBS.
The unusual event, where she not only went on air during the early stages of labor, but managed to anchor the entire three-hour newscast, quickly went viral.
Olivia continued to anchor the news even after her contractions began and her water broke, informing viewers that she was expecting her first child.
“We have some big news this morning — literally,” her co-anchor, Julia Dunn, said during the opening of the CBS6 Albany morning show on Wednesday. “Olivia’s water broke and she’s currently anchoring the news in the middle of labor.”
Jaquith stayed in the studio for a while longer, while Dunn continued her Facebook live broadcast.
“I’m fine and I’ll be at the desk as long as I can, but if I have to leave suddenly … you know what happens,” Olivia said during the broadcast.
She had the option to go home or to the hospital, but she chose to spend her time at work rather than “waiting anxiously at the hospital,” as she told the Times-Union.
“Having the whole morning crew around and making jokes about it helped me get through the contractions,” she said in a message to the newspaper.
She added that she initially thought she wasn’t in labor, but that it was false contractions: “I couldn’t even properly explain what I felt when my water broke.”
After the show ended, Olivia and her husband headed to the hospital. Less than 24 hours later, Quincy was born — and, as she said, it was love at first sight.
