A local couple is thanking a San Diego medical team for helping them deliver their second child in the nick of time — right outside the hospital. NBC 7’s Candice Nguyen reports.
A local couple is thanking a San Diego medical team for helping them deliver their second child right in the nick of time.
Labor for Jessica Salzman’s first child only last four hours, so she knew she needed to rush to the hospital once she went into labor with her second. Initially, she was sent back home.
“I was supposed to do my fantasy football draft,” said her husband Drew Salzman jokingly. “My buddy makes a comment literally that morning, ‘Bro, you’re not going to have the baby in the car. That only happens on TV.’”
Right when Jessica and Drew returned home and he left for a short while, Jessica said knew she had to go back to the hospital.
“Next thing I know, we’re in the car and I’m like we need to go now!” she said. “I was like we’re not going to make it. We’re not going to make it. This is my worst nightmare.”
Drew pulled up to the entrance of UCSD Medical Center’s Emergency Room in Hillcrest and rushed out to get a wheelchair.
Little did he know his wife wasn’t telling him how close she was to delivering because she didn’t want to distract him from driving.
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“I literally get 20-30 steps away and I hear [the paramedic] say ‘She just had a baby in the car!’” Drew said. “She’s standing on the car, like one foot on the car seat, the other on the dashboard and looking at me like no big deal.”
“I’m smacking the glass because I can’t open the door,” Jessica told NBC 7.
“I heard her screaming. I walked over and as I put my last glove on and open the door, I see baby Zoey on the passenger seat,” said paramedic Jose Herrera.
“It can happen pretty quick, but second babies are a lot quicker,” said Anela Puljic, M.D. with UCSD Medical Center. “When we hear there’s a mom who’s had a baby before needing help, we run.”
It’s been a few months since that eventful day. Jessica and Drew reached out to NBC 7 to find the medical team.
On Thursday, the couple was reunited with Jose Herrera and Jonathan Velazquez, who work for AMR Riverside County, as well as Dr. Puljic.
Jessica said the crew went above and beyond, even cleaning their van when she was admitted in the hospital.
“That was a huge experience. We were lucky with how you handled it,” said Drew to the paramedics.
