911 operator helps couple deliver baby in car

01:51 PM PDT on Tuesday, October 11, 2005

By Deborah Feldman and KING5.com staff

SEATTLE - The newest addition of one Washington family made his appearance Monday morning, but not in the hospital – in the seat of a car! And all with the help of a Kitsap County 911 operator.

Thomas Redding was driving his fiancée Shellie Cohagan who was 4 days past due to the hospital Monday morning from Port Orchard, but the baby wouldn’t wait. Just five minutes into the drive, Redding quickly pulled over to a park and ride off of Highway 16 and called 911.

Thomas Redding

Nicholai Thomas William Redding was born Monday morning in his parents's car along Highway 16 near Port Orchard, Washington.

"The head is almost out!" Redding exclaimed when he called 911.

Dispatcher Donna Kelly gave him delivery instructions over the phone.

"You need to hold the baby's head," she said. "It's OK, it's OK, you can do this!"

Less than three minutes after the 911 call, Kelly helped the couple bring little Nicholai into the world in the back seat of their car. Redding wrapped the baby in Cohagan's sweat pants.

Minutes later, paramedics from South Kitsap Fire and Rescue arrived on scene and transported the newborn and his mother to Harrison Memorial Hospital in Silverdale, where mom and baby are doing fine.

Baby Nicholai Thomas William Redding weighed 7lbs. 3 oz. at birth.

Thomas Redding

Shellie Cohagan and Thomas Redding hold their newly born baby Nicholai Thomas William Redding.