Baby’s Delivery Makes It Rush Hour to Remember

Emily Rios’ baby daughter arrived unexpectedly Wednesday--during rush hour on Interstate 5 in the back seat of the family’s green Volvo.

“They were en route to the hospital and her husband was driving like in the movies, weaving in and out of traffic, when she told him she couldn’t hold it any more, so they pulled over,” said Eric Leverenz, a paramedic who arrived at the scene shortly after the baby was born. “The father played Johnny Bench--he went in the back seat and caught the baby just as it was coming out.”

A passing motorist, who happened to be a nurse, stopped to offer support and call paramedics. By the time they arrived on the scene--in San Clemente near the Camino Capistrano offramp on southbound Interstate 5--the only thing left to do was take the family to Columbia San Clemente Hospital and Medical Center, where they’d been headed in the first place.

“Everybody was doing remarkably well,” Leverenz said of the 32-year-old mom and her new baby. “The mother had a big smile on her face.”

A hospital spokeswoman would not release any information on the family, which is from Mission Viejo.

Leverenz described the newborn as “perfect” with a little bit of light-colored hair. “She’s just a beautiful girl,” he said.

For the paramedic, the experience was a welcome change. “It was great,” he said. “It’s kind of nice to assist in the giving of new life rather than going out and seeing someone die.” Following the birth, Leverenz said, the father “was kind of shellshocked. He kept looking at his wife with a big smile on his face, and she kept saying that it felt like a dream. She felt like she needed to wake up.”

The event was a definite wake-up for the Orange County Fire Authority dispatcher who took the 911 call announcing the birth at 5:47 p.m.

“It was very exciting,” Vailani Perreira said. She gave the couple standard instructions, even though they seemed to have the situation well under control. Although this was the fourth birth in which she has assisted, the dispatcher said, it was the first that occurred on the freeway.