LYNNWOOD — The mother was in labor, so she and the father got on the road.
“They were on their way to the hospital and didn’t quite make it,” said trooper Heather Axtman of the Washington State Patrol.
Another trooper, Steve Palm, helped deliver the baby.
The parents-to-be had called 911. They were parked on the right shoulder of northbound I-5, between Lynnwood and Everett.
Palm got to them at 1:47 a.m. Wednesday, before the medical crew arrived.
His co-workers then heard him on the radio at 1:59 a.m. Just 12 minutes has passed.
“He called out, ‘It’s a girl,’ ” Axtman said.
The healthy baby and her mother were taken to the hospital for follow-up care.
About 1:30 p.m., Axtman posted the news on Twitter, adding a short video clip of confetti falling around the message, “It’s a girl!”
This morning at 1:59 a.m. on the right shoulder of NB I5 in Snohomish County one of our troopers helped deliver a baby girl! pic.twitter.com/QMyYtOzFtf
— Trooper H. Axtman (@wspd7pio) November 21, 2018
Police and firefighters often are called to help with babies who arrive sooner than expected.
Two years ago, Snohomish County sheriff’s deputy Keith Poteet delivered a baby in a Dodge Durango.
The parents, part of a local farming family, were less than two miles from their Snohomish-area home.
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.
The next day, he stopped by the hospital room with flowers for the parents.
