Early Tuesday morning, a section of the Interstate 15 in Escondido became a make-shift delivery room for a baby who just could not wait to meet the world.
When Tabitha Pratt started feeling contractions, she and her husband Lucas loaded up and headed to the hospital.
But not even halfway there, Lucas said his wife knew they weren't going to make it to the hospital.
"She's like, 'This baby is coming right now. You need to pull over,'" Lucas told NBC 7 in an interview Friday. "I was like, 'Oh, you can make it you can make it.'. And she was like, 'No pull over.'"
He pulled over just south of the Citracado Parkway.
That's where Tabitha gave birth to their beautiful 9.5 pound girl, Ava.
California Highway Patrol officers Ralph Ketcher and Israel Diaz arrived shortly after the baby's birth.
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Lucas said itt was pitch black on the freeway, so they brought flashlights and heated blankets for the mother and baby. That's when the officers discovered the umbilical cord wrapped around little Ava's neck.
When they unwound the cord, Ava started to breath and cry.
The family was then taken to Palomar Medical Center.
"The best day of your life is having the birth of your child. So I can feel for him," said Officer Ketcher. "How excited, how scared, how optimistic he is. It's just for that proud moment. To be able to share that with him is an honor."
Tabitha and baby Ava were released by the hospital Wednesday afternoon.
Lucas told NBC 7, his 2-year-old daughter Emma loves being a big sister.
