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Dramatic 911 Call Captures Woman Giving Birth On 5 Freeway

LOS ANGELES (CBS) — Yesterday morning, a 37-year-old pregnant woman and her husband were rushing to the hospital on the 5 south.

Traffic was going nowhere but the baby was ready to appear.

After the soon-to-be dad called 911, he pulled off the freeway and onto the Beach Boulevard off-ramp in Buena Park.

Rachel Kim, reporting for CBS2 and KCAL9, heard the dramatic 911 call and also spoke to the paramedic who rushed to the scene.

Dad pulled the minivan over and soon-to-be mom started to push.

The 911 dispatcher helped the father as much as possible but nature took its course. Lydia, a perfectly-healthy 8-pounder, apparently didn't know she was supposed to wait until her parents got to the hospital.

Dispatch: "I've got help on the way...and you said you just gave birth?"
Dad: "Uh, yeah."

Paramedic Scott Schultz and three others from Fire Station 62 arrived seconds after the baby's arrival.

Dispatch: "Did you wipe the child off?"
Dad: "We're starting to...we didn't do anything about the cord or anything."
Dispatch: "No, don't do anything. All you're going to do right now is clean the baby's mouth out."

Says Schultz, "We found the mom in the right front seat with the baby between her legs in her hands. The umbilical cord was still there. Then we clamped the cord and cut the cord."

Dispatch: "What number child is this?"
Dad: "Three. We should have been smarter about leaving earlier!"

Schultz was impressed how well the situation turned out. "The baby was doing great. She was pink. She had a good strong cry."

Dispatch: "How's mom doing?"
Dad: "Um. She's probably ... she's pretty mad at me!"

Schultz' day ended on a much happier note than how it began. "Early today, we had a call where a gentleman lost his life on the freeway. Those are tough. But to have something like this, where we bring a baby into the world? It was good."

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