Woman Goes Into Labor
in Traffic Jam

F>om the Washington Post March 13, 1999:

Woman Goes Into Labor in Traffic Jam

A 24-year-old Centreville woman who went into labor last night in gridlocked traffic on the Capital Beltway gave birth to a baby girl with some help from a Maryland State Trooper.

The woman, whose name was not released by authorities, went into labor shortly before 7 p.m. on the western end of the American Legion Bridge, Maryland State Police and Montgomery County fire officials said. The father called for help on a cellular telephone.

The response fell to Trooper First-Class Howard Hersh, a former state police flight paramedic who has belonged to the Bethesda-Chevy Chase Rescue Squad for 20 years.

Hersh and rescue workers helped the woman into an ambulance for the ride to Shady Grove Adventist Hospital, but the baby--the mother's third--arrived on northbound Interstate 270 near the Falls Road exit.

Mother, baby and father (who was left behind in Beltway traffic) were reported doing well last night.