Woman Gives Birth In Car; Husband Catches Baby With One Hand While Driving

A Cincinnati-based man is being hailed a hero for his perfect "one-handed catch" that probably saved the life of his newborn baby.

Ryan Emge was driving his laboring wife, Kelli, to the hospital Friday when they realized their baby is about to come out.

"Real quickly, [Kelli] took her seatbelt off, put her knees on the seat facing the back, and started giving birth in the passenger seat while I was driving on the highway," Ryan was quoted by WXIX.

As soon as she popped out little Rebecca, the couple's fourth child, Ryan caught her with his one hand, while keeping his eye on the road and the other hand on the wheel.

"I had kind of a freak-out and I was like, 'Honey, do you want me to pull over? What do I do here?' And she's like, 'No, keep going, we need to get to the hospital,'" he said. "The baby started coming out, so I just reached over with my hand and I caught the baby."

Ryan kept the newborn down on the seat below as soon as she landed on his hand.

Though he is called a hero for his "Golden Glove-worthy catch," Ryan credits his wife for handling the situation well. "It was, like, the most impressive thing I've ever seen," he said. "She just handled the whole thing."

Interestingly, another couple in the same city faced a similar dilemma Friday. Kenariye Delaney could not even make it to the ambulance as she popped out the baby at home.

Delaney said though she always wanted a home birth, she didn't exactly "expect it to happen that way." She had several days of false labor that week, but on Friday, Delaney knew the baby was coming.

Though her partner immediately called the ambulance, the baby couldn't wait. "He came within five minutes of that phone call," the new mom said.

In both cases, there were no postnatal complications that required medical intervention.

A similar incident was reported last month when a 31-year-old California woman's contractions came so suddenly that she gave birth to her baby on her front lawn. Interestingly, the entire thing was captured on her doorbell cam.