Atlanta

Falcons player's wife almost had baby in hallway

ATLANTA — Parents of the smallest Atlanta Falcons team member are talking about the eventful playoff game that will forever be a part of the story of their daughter’s birth.

Lily Levitre was born just hours after the NFC playoff game between Atlanta and Seattle, but the story begins before the game started.

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Falcons’ player Andy Levitre’s wife Katie was on her way to the game when she began to feel contractions. By the time she got there, they were seven minutes apart.

But Katie wasn’t ready to go to the hospital. She says she knew labor could take a day or more, and she wanted to see her husband play in the big game. So she toughed it out all the way through.

"The first quarter wasn't so bad. I got to see him spike the ball which was pretty cool but (labor pains) started pretty quickly after that,” she said.

Katie says she took walks through the Georgia Dome halls to ease the pain.

The second the Falcons won, she says she knew baby Lily was coming and that she needed to grab her husband and get to the hospital.

“As soon as I saw him I just burst into tears,” she said. “I knew something was up then,” Andy Levitre said.

After a quick stop at home, they finally made it to the hospital around 10:30. Their baby was born just after midnight.

“We almost had that baby in the hallway,” Katie said.

Head coach Dan Quinn heard about the sacrifice that Katie made to be there for her husband and the team so he gave her a game ball for showing the “ultimate toughness.”

"I could have never expected that. It's just a nod to how much Dan Quinn really appreciates his players and their families,” she said. “From the very beginning he's been amazing to all of us."

Earlier this year, Andy was asked to write out his goals for the year.

"I wrote that I want to be standing on the stage with the Super Bowl trophy in one hand and my newborn daughter in the other hand,” he said.

All of Atlanta is hoping for that as well, Andy.