Breech Baby Delivered by Dad Along I-270

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A Germantown father – with the help of emergency dispatchers on the cell phone – safely delivered his baby son along the side of Interstate 270 in Montgomery County early Thursday.

Amanda Nelson gave birth to Jacob about 4 a.m. near Shady Grove Road with help from her husband, Jon. The already unorthodox delivery was complicated by Jacob’s breech birth, meaning the infant emerged feet first, reducing oxygen to the baby.

An ambulance crew arrived a few minutes after the birth. Jon had already wrapped the boy in his shirt and Amanda has snuggling him close when backup arrived.

“Everyone is healthy,” Jon told WTOP.

The couple had driven about six miles when they pulled over to the side of the interstate. At that point Jacob’s leg and foot were already out and they were blue, his father said.

While John had CPR training in the Marines, it didn’t include delivering a breech baby. Dispatchers on the phone walked him through how to tie off the umbilical cord and to clear the baby’s mouth and nose.

»Photos of parents Jon and Amanda Nelson of Germantown, with their son, Jacob, courtesy of Montgomery Community Media