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Washington State Patrol trooper delivers baby
Washington State Patrol trooper delivers baby
MOUNT VERNON, Wash. -- Washington State Patrol troopers are trained to respond to calls for help, but one of them went beyond the call of duty this weekend: He delivered a baby on I-5 in Mount Vernon.
On the busy stretch of Interstate 5 at Kincaid Street, dispatchers received a call for help Saturday from a soon-to-be grandmother and her daughter, who were less than a mile from Skagit Valley Hospital when they had to pull over.
“So how far have the contractions been?” A dispatcher can be heard asking the caller.
“They’re right together, they aren’t even a minute apart,” replies the caller.
That’s when dispatchers called Trooper Mike Rudy to assist.
“We anticipated she was in labor, and I anticipated I would have to do something,” said Rudy.
Rudy thought he might have to give the woman an escort to the hospital, but instead realized there wouldn’t be time for that.
“I looked down there and there was the head, and I just held the head and she pushed and the baby came to about the neck, and I let her relax for a second and coached her through pushing again and she pushed and the rest of the baby came out and then I just placed the baby on the chest,” said Rudy.
As a father of seven, he’s experienced the birth of a child before -- just never in the role of doctor.
So for this trooper, delivering a baby boy on Interstate 5 is one call he won’t soon forget.