01:18 PM CDT on Thursday, September 1, 2005

From 11 News Staff Reports

PASADENA -- A pregnant woman who drove with her family from New Orleans for 23 hours to escape Hurricane Katrina found refuge at Bayshore Medical Center where she gave birth to a healthy baby boy.

Ashley Schexnayder, 19, entered the emergency department with labor pains Tuesday afternoon. She gave birth at 9:27 p.m.

Schexnayde says she was so overwhelmed by the outpouring of baby clothes, gift certificates and kindness from the Bayshore staff, that she named her baby after the hospital: Jeremiah Bayshore Schexnayder.

"They knew what a predicament we were in because of the hurricane. They treated me so nice like I was queen. They teated me like my mama treats me. That's why I named my baby's middle name 'Bayshore,'" said Schexnayder.

Schexnayder, a single mom, traveled with her ailing mother and other family members and friends - squeezing eight people in a Suburban.

After the long drive from New Orleans, paying for gas and $35 for the first night in a motel, and then being asked for $70 for a second night

Schexnayder didn't know what to do. The family had run out of money.

Labor pains began and Schexnayder and her family ended up at the nearest hospital: Bayshore Medical Center.

Dr. Hugo A. Sarria delivered a healthy baby boy - 7 pounds, 13 ounces and 19 ½ inches long.

Along with gifts for the baby, the staff arranged for a hospice company to give free pain medications to Schexnayder's mother, Antoinette Johnson, who suffers from terminal uterine cancer and says she has been told she has two months to live.

Tyara Barge, a social worker at Bayshore, said this was the first refugee family the hospital has helped. "I'm trying to connect them with services that are available in the community here - The Red Cross, United Way. Because the family has a terminal cancer patient, I was trying to get them with meds," said Barge, who worked 14 hours yesterday.

Schexnayder says they have lost everything. Their apartment building in New Orleans is under water. She left with only one day's change of clothes, thinking she and her family would be back in New Orleans in a couple of days.

Schexnayder doesn't know what she will do in the immediate future. The family says they think they have an offer to live with a distant relative in Houston. If that falls through, Bayshore officials said they will work with local churches to find a place for the family to stay, pointing out that an enclosed space would be better than an open shelter for a newborn.

Despite feeling overwhelmed at her loss, Schexnayder says she is grateful for the generous and kind treatment at Bayshore Medical Center - - and for her healthy baby.

"The only thing keeping me going is my baby and the people at the hospital. They are treating me so nice. I've never been treated like this before. I feel really safe and comfortable - like it's my hometown. They treat me better than in my hometown."