Meet Van Jefferson’s little Champ!
As Jefferson and his team faced off against the Cincinnati Bengals on Feb. 13, a then-pregnant Samaria cheered them on from the stands —while in active labor.
“I did not want to miss the game for anything. I watched him play since high school, college and now the NFL, so I was dedicated to go,” Samaria, 23, tells PEOPLE in the issue on stands Friday. “We were walking up to the stadium and I was having to stop every five minutes from the pain.”
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Van Jefferson, wife Samaria and their newborn son Champ.Ari & Louise
Minutes before the halftime show, medical staff on site took Samaria out on a stretcher and transported her to a local hospital, where she declined to be admitted and instead took an Uber to her birthing center. It wasn’t until afterthe Rams beat the Bengalsin a final score of 23-20, Jefferson says, that he found out his wife was in labor.
“I was on the field and this lady was like, ‘Your wife is going into labor.’ I was like, ‘Are we serious right now?’ " Jefferson recalls of the now-viral moment that was caught on camera. “We hauled tail. I’m in the car going, ‘We need to go a little bit faster. We need to get there!’ "
Van Jefferson, wife Samaria and their newborn son Champ.Courtesy
“We called him and I was like, ‘I can’t wait anymore,’ " says Samaria. “He was on FaceTime watching me give birth.”
An hour after her arrival to the birthing center, Samariagave birth naturally to sonChamp. “Just to get there and get that skin-to-skin contact was such a special moment for me,” says Jefferson.
Life since that eventful Sunday has not slowed down for the high school sweethearts, who are already parents to 5-year-old daughter Bella while Jefferson is also dad to 4-year-old son Vanchi.
And while Jefferson insists his focus has been at home with Samaria and the kids, he says he has managed to carve out time for his teammates, too. “You don’t get to the Super Bowl often, so you got to enjoy it,” he says with a laugh. “Everyone was saying, ‘You didn’t even get a chance to celebrate,’ but it really wasn’t about the celebration. It was about being with my wife.”
“I’m so proud of her. She’s been the ultimate, No. 1. fan … and she’s always been there for me,” Jefferson adds of Samaria. “She handled it like a true champ.”
For more from Van Jefferson and his wife Samaria, pick up the latest issue ofPEOPLE, on newsstands Friday.
source: people.com
