SAN ANTONIO (KENS) – Most fathers spend Father’s Day opening a card or firing up the grill.
But for one San Antonio dad, the day started with a 911 call, a baby arriving in the front seat of a car, and a moment he never saw coming.
Around 2 a.m. Father’s Day, Luis Cerda wasn’t thinking about gifts. He was trying to get his wife to the hospital.
But just minutes into the drive, his wife, Mariah, knew this baby had other plans.
“Pretty much 5 or 6 minutes driving on the way over there, we were driving. He was trying to drive a little fast. I was, you know, in his ear. And I was like, screaming.” Mariah Cerda said.
They were headed down Interstate 37 when the situation changed fast. Mariah felt the baby crowning.
“And I know this is my second baby, so I know that feeling,” Mariah Cerda said.
Luis Cerda pulled into a QuikTrip gas station on Hot Wells Boulevard and called 911. Then he gets a job description he never expected.
“I had to reach down there to make sure I felt his head too. And I was like, okay, we’re not gonna make it. I saw the gas station. I was like, all right, I’m just going to pull over and get over there,” Luis Cerda said.
By the time he opens the passenger door, the baby is already coming.
“As soon as he got out, by the time he opened the passenger side, I shot the baby out. I mean, he caught him. The umbilical cord wrapped around the neck, so he had to undo it. Baby took its first breath, started crying,” Mariah Cerda said.
With a 911 dispatcher talking him through it, Luis delivered his son before first responders arrived.
Firefighters later handed him the scissors to cut the umbilical cord.
And it was only then that the family realized what day it was.
“Oh, it’s like the best gift anyone, any father could have, you know, for Father’s Day, especially delivering him. And he’s named after me, too, so that makes it even sweeter,” Luis Cerda said.
Now baby Luis the third is home and healthy. All three are all doing well and have a Father’s Day story they’ll be telling for years.
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