SNOHOMISH — Peter and Kyla Bartelheimer wanted some element of surprise when it came to the birth of their third child.
They didn’t let doctors reveal its gender beforehand.
As it turned out, their baby had a surprise of its own.
So it was, at 11:06 p.m. Tuesday, Case Daniel Bartelheimer entered the world from the front passenger seat of his parents’ Dodge Durango.
There to receive all 9 pounds and 2 ounces of him was Snohomish County Deputy Sheriff Keith Poteet, who works as a Snohomish police officer under a contract with the county. Poteet had happened by the SUV with its dome light on.
The birth happened so fast that medics arrived after Case was snuggled in his mother’s arms.
Afterward, the Bartelheimers went to Providence Regional Medical Center in Everett.
Poteet headed home, changed his shirt, told his wife “You are not going to believe what I just did” and got back in his patrol car to finish his night patrol shift.
Early Wednesday afternoon, in his off hours and holding a bouquet of flowers, Poteet paid the Bartelheimers a visit at the hospital.
“Thank you so much for being in the right place at the right time,” Kyla told the officer.
“Really, thank you,” Poteet replied. “This was epic.”
“You were very calm,” she said.
“You did all the work,” he said.
Back and forth, gratitude flowed and vignettes were told.
The Bartelheimers had visited the hospital earlier Tuesday, but it simply wasn’t time.
They drove home and waited.
That evening, the contractions started up, but they were inconsistent.
As they prepared to head back to the hospital, Peter brewed some coffee and made a ham-and-egg sandwich.
Kyla began to feel intense pressure.
Less than two miles from their home, Kyla told Peter to pull over.
She knew she wasn’t going to make it to the delivery room.
Peter, a fourth-generation Snohomish farmer, parked on the side of the road, not far from the Pilchuck Veterinary Hospital.
Poteet had been checking nearby ballfields where there had been some recent thefts.
He saw the dome light of the SUV and could hear a persistent honking. The sound was not a gentle beep. It was insistent and blaring, like SOS in Morse code. Between frequent and painful contractions, Kyla had leaned over to the steering wheel and let the horn convey her urgent call for help.
“My wife is in labor and she is wanting to push,” Peter told the officer when he rolled up on the scene.
Poteet called dispatch for medical help and gloved up.
He reclined the passenger seat, put down a towel and tried to get Kyla as comfortable as possible.
Peter, who had been mentally preparing himself to deliver his child, held his wife’s hand and offered encouragement.
Poteet gave instructions, when to push and to breathe. All the while, he wondered to himself when the medics would arrive.
“Oh boy, here we go,” Poteet thought to himself when the baby’s head appeared.
When the shoulders emerged, he felt some level of relief.
Much more so when the baby had been delivered.
There was one more hurdle.
At first, Case made no sound. He was blue.
Then came a whimper, a breath and a cry.
Case was born less than an hour before Poteet’s own birthday. It was, the officer said, the greatest gift he can ever imagine receiving.
“It meant so much to be able to hand a baby to its mother,” he said.
At the hospital, Poteet looked down at the swaddled sleeping babe.
“Would you like to hold him?” Kyla asked.
“Absolutely,” the officer said.
He held him for a long time.
“He is precious,” he said.
Eric Stevick: 425-339-3446; stevick@heraldnet.com.
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