Born to Ride : Officer Helps Deliver Baby Who Just Can’t Wait to Get to the Hospital

It was supposed to be a routine day, nothing more than issuing citations for traffic violations. But an hour into his shift, California Highway Patrol Officer Rick Baeza Monday was helping deliver a baby beside the Riverside Freeway.

James and Stacey Nuckols were about 15 miles from their hospital in bumper-to-bumper traffic when they realized that they wouldn’t make it in time. So they pulled behind Baeza’s parked patrol car on the freeway shoulder near the Gypsum Canyon Road exit, where he was ticketing a motorist.

Minutes later--with a little help from Baeza--Stacey Nuckols gave birth to a healthy, 7-pound, 8-ounce girl, Alisha Danielle, in the front seat of the couple’s Honda Civic station wagon. Paramedics arrived 8 minutes later and rushed mother and daughter to their original destination, St. Joseph Hospital in Orange. Doctors there said that both were in excellent condition and that they were expected to be released Monday night.

The delivery provided a welcome change for Baeza, a member of a special enforcement team that only writes tickets all day. It also was a timely diversion for the motorist who had been stopped for driving with an expired registration. Baeza let him go without issuing a ticket.

“(Nuckols) said his wife was ready to deliver right there. We could see the top of the baby’s head, so I let the (traffic) violator go, went back to my car and got a blanket and rubber gloves and assisted with the delivery,” the 6-year CHP veteran said. “It would have taken them an hour to get to the hospital. Traffic was bumper to bumper.”

The Nuckolses, devout Jehovah’s Witnesses, said they chose to drive 2 hours from their home in Big Bear to St. Joseph because they knew the hospital would abide by their wishes not to perform blood transfusions in the event of an emergency.

“We don’t believe in transfusions, and we’ve had big problems with that in the mountains,” said 25-year-old Stacey Nuckols, who began having labor pains about 3 a.m. Monday. The couple set out for the hospital about 2 hours later, she said.

“When we got to Corona, I told him I didn’t think we were going to make it. The traffic had just stopped,” the new mother said. “For 10 miles, we were driving in the emergency lane. When the officer came around and opened the door, I was pushing the baby’s head out.”

James Nuckols, 30, said he and his wife had taken natural-childbirth classes and were prepared to deliver their second child on their own. (The couple also have a 17-month-old daughter.)

“When we pulled off the freeway, there just happened to be a CHP officer writing a ticket. So I walked up to him and said we were going to deliver a baby, and I asked him to call for help,” James Nuckols said.

“We were prepared to deliver it, but we would have preferred to be in the hospital. We don’t want to promote having babies on the freeway.”

For Baeza, who has no children, helping deliver a baby was a first.

But, the 32-year-old Laguna Hills man said, he had taken a first-aid course in the police academy and was prepared for it. He said officers keep blankets and sterile gloves in the car for emergencies.

“I felt comfortable and confident in what I was doing; it was a natural thing. I just assisted and made sure everything was OK,” he said. “It was the most exciting thing. I guess I’ve got another addition to my Christmas (gift) list now.”