Deputy delivers his baby

Most law enforcement officers are trained to assist women in labor until the medics get to the scene. Cochise County Deputy Glen Ortiz never expected to assist his girlfriend Marisol Ruiz let alone deliver his own daughter.

“She told me around 3:30 a.m. that she was in lot of pain and that we should just go to the doctor to check it out,” Ortiz said.

Neither one of them thought she was having contractions and both were waiting for Ruiz’s water to break as they headed to Sierra Vista Regional Health Center.

Once on the road the contractions started. “I started timing the contractions and they were about 30 minutes apart,” he said.

As they got into Bisbee the contractions were coming at five minutes apart. “From thirty to five minutes incredible,” the still excited dad said.

As Ruiz was feeling the pain they turned onto Highway 90, at this point the contractions were at two minutes.

Ortiz called the fellow deputy and told him they were coming into Sierra Vista, at a high speed and the baby was coming. The deputy then told him I’ll meet you and escort you to the hospital.

Ruiz then tells Ortiz to stop; he stops on Hwy 90 east of the San Pedro River. “She then tells me to get out of the truck and then two minutes later she tells me come back,” Ortiz said.

At this point Ortiz calls the deputy to have him call medics and gives him their location.

“Then she tells me Glen I think the baby is coming,” he said. “I was like what, what do you mean? Did your water break?”

She tells me the baby is coming, the baby is coming out, he added.

Grabbing a towel he goes over to the passenger side and sees the baby’s head was crowning.

“I told her Marisol, I don’t know how this happened, the instincts just kicked in,” Ortiz said. “I didn’t get scared or fainted or anything. I told her Marisol listen to me we got to push, we have to get our baby out.”

With a few pushes the baby came out. Ortiz made sure his baby girl was breathing and tried making her cry.

A few minutes later the deputy and ambulance show up. The new daddy tells the deputy “Tell the medics that we had the baby.”

Baby Jaslyn Gianna Ortiz was born on mile marker 333 on Hwy 90 at 5:38 a.m. on Jan. 23, 2013. Coincidentally Deputy Ortiz’s call sign is 333; mom, dad and baby are all doing well at home.

“I’m in complete shock, happy, excited to delivery my own baby,” Ortiz said. “It’s very rare, it’s incredible.”