Meet The Baby Born On Highway 35

MIDDLETOWN, NJ — Last Friday, we told you how the Lincroft First Aid squad helped a woman deliver her baby in an ambulance on the side of Highway 35 in Middletown. And now today, after speaking with the mom and dad, there is a dramatic twist in the story: The mom was losing consciousness after the delivery and Middletown police had to shut down Rt. 35 to race the family to Riverview Medical Center.

According to mom Pragati Kale, 34, of Ironwood Court, the contractions started at about 2 a.m. last Friday, May 26. This was her second child, so she knew what to expect and wasn't nervous at first. However, very quickly, the contractions became more intense.

"We called my doctor and decided to head to Riverview," Kale told Patch. "All of a sudden, the contractions really increased. They were coming less than a minute apart and lasted for more than two minutes. I could hardly catch my breath in between each one."

"I said to my husband, 'We're not going to make it to the hospital, this baby is coming here,'" she said.

Husband Sourik Samaddar called 911 and Patch readers know the rest: Lincroft and Fairview squads arrived — "All of a sudden there were 12 people in my living room," Samaddar laughed; mom was carried down in a stretcher to the ambulance, which only made it as far as Rt. 35 and South Laurel before having to pull over on the side of the road. Three pushes, and little Ashwik Samaddar was born at about 4:30 a.m. Samaddar, following in a car behind the ambulance, was so nervous to get to the hospital he accidentally drove past them.

It was when he made a U-turn and drove back that something terrifying happened.

"I pulled up behind the ambulance and ran over. I peeked in the small side window and saw my wife inside and my baby's arm. So I knew he had been born," he said. "But she wasn't moving."

A Middletown policeman ran up to him and told him the ambulance had to rush to Riverview. His wife was slipping in and out of consciousness.

"I was extremely drained," Kale recalled. "I felt like my body had given up. I didn't even have the strength to breathe."

"The EMTs told me later she was on the verge of losing consciousness," her husband said.

EMTs James Kelly and Chris Lombardi gave her oxygen, as the ambulance raced down Rt. 35 to Riverview, with Dad following at about 80 miles per hour.

"What was amazing was the Middletown police actually closed down every single intersection for us. The coordination of it all was amazing," he said. "But there were so many things going through my mind on that 12- to 15-minute drive. The last image I had was her through that small window, not moving. Would I ever see my wife alive again?"

The oxygen helped. When they got to Riverview, the ambulance doors flung open and Kale got some strength back. Her husband burst into tears when he saw his wife and brand-new son.

They were in the hospital for three days and came home this week. In total, Kale's labor lasted about two-and-a-half hours.

And it was an emotional reunion Thursday night, when mom and dad met for the first time the EMTs who delivered their baby.

"I could not thank them enough," Kale said. "These three people, people we have never seen and never even knew existed, they saved my life and they saved my baby. They played a very big role in my life, which I can never forget."

Top photo: Front row: Mary (Fairview EMT) Brian McKittrick (Lincroft EMT), rear: Nick & Barbara Lucyk (Fairview), Sourik Samaddar and Baby Ashwik, Pragati Kale, Chris Lombardi and Jim Kelly.