Man Delivers Baby, With a Little Help : 911: A sheriff’s deputy just back from maternity leave and a Spanish-speaking operator talk parents through child’s birth.

A sheriff’s deputy fresh from maternity leave--aided by a Spanish-speaking telephone operator--helped an East Los Angeles father deliver his child Monday.

Deputy Dondra Green, a five-year Sheriff’s Department veteran, took the frantic 911 call from Jose Martinez.

Although Martinez’s command of English had temporarily left him, Green understood at least one word of his rapid-fire plea for help before he abruptly hung up: “Baby!”

With the help of the Spanish-speaking operator, Green, who had recently returned from maternity leave, got Martinez back on the phone. The deputy then talked him and the mother, Ana Chagollan, through the delivery of their son Alberto before paramedics arrived.

Mother, son and the thoroughly shaken father were taken to East Los Angeles Doctors Hospital, where they were reported doing fine later in the day.

“I can’t believe that I did it,” Martinez said.

Martinez, 28, and Chagollan, 22, natives of the Mexican state of Jalisco and the parents of a 2-year-old son, said they were caught off guard when Chagollan began experiencing contractions shortly after 4:30 a.m. The baby was not due for another week or so.

When the contractions intensified just before 6 a.m., Martinez dialed the emergency number. He has lived in this country for 13 years and understands some English.

But that knowledge left him in the excitement of getting help.

Although Green does not speak Spanish, a recent sheriff’s agreement with AT&T;’s Language Line allowed the deputy to reach a Spanish-speaking operator based in Monterey who stayed on the phone to translate Green’s instructions to Martinez.

“Don’t pull the baby’s head out,” Green coolly advised Martinez. “Just put your hands under the head.”

In less than five minutes, Alberto--weighing seven pounds--was screaming his lungs out.

“Get some clean towels,” the deputy said to the father. “Just keep the baby warm.”

The deputy had left work by the time the family got to the hospital and could not be contacted. But the new father was ecstatic.

“I think 911 is wonderful,” he said. “They told me the lady I talked to had just had a baby. What luck, eh?”