MAXWELL -- The Maxwell Fire Department and ambulance crew got an early morning call that they almost couldn't answer because of the blizzard.

Era Elliott said she woke up to more than just wind, snow and bitterly cold temperatures.

"I woke up this morning to really bad pains that felt like contractions," Elliott said.

She said she was worried that the pains meant that she would be going into labor.

"I was hoping that I wouldn't have the baby," she said.

She called 911 for help.

"We really thought we were going to deliver a baby here, so it was kind of nerve wracking," said Maxwell firefighter James Hudson.

The conditions were so bad that even an ambulance crew was slowed to a crawl.

"So what should have been an eight-minute trip probably ended up being a couple of hours," he said.

It took two ambulances, one from Maxwell and one from Story County, to answer the call. The Story County ambulance got stuck but wound up transporting Elliott to the Story County Medical Center, where she learned she was not in labor.

This wasn't the first time that something like this happened to Elliott.

"About a year ago for the same lady," said Maxwell firefighter Tom Hudson.

"Last year, there was a really bad snow storm and I actually did go into labor and they had to take me all the way to Mary Greeley in Des Moines," said Elliott. "Pretty dramatic, if you ask me. For it to happen again this year, but not to have the baby, is a little bit better than what I did last year. Never in a million years did I think it would happen twice in a row."

Even though it was a false alarm, Elliott said she's very thankful for the crews that rescued her.

"I thought I would have some mad people at me, but I ran into a bunch of nice people," she said.

She said she hoped to be released from the hospital on Thursday. Elliott has three children, one born on Valentine's Day, one born on Christmas Eve and one that was supposed to be born on Halloween, but arrived early. Her latest child is due on New Year's Day.