A Manatee County couple have quite the story to tell after the husband delivered their baby in the front seat of their car.

  • Mauricio, Kaitlin Escobar's son Elias born last week
  • 911 operator talked Mauricio through helping his wife during birth
  • Operator had only been on the job six months

Mauricio Escobar told us he can literally say he helped bring his child into this world. A 911 call captured the frantic moments of Escobar delivering his son, Elias, last week.

Escobar could be heard on the call saying, "I'm actually driving, my wife is in labor, I just need a little bit of help."

Moments later, he told 911 operator Marrisa Carpenter the baby's head was out. She then instructed him to pull over on the side of the road and deliver the baby.

Escobar said he and his wife, Kaitlin, tried to make it to the hospital, but baby Elias had other plans.

"It was five minutes from the moment that we called to the moment that I pulled over," Escobar said. "I went to the passenger seat, then the baby was born."

Escobar credits the baby's safe delivery to Carpenter, who has only been on the job for six months.

"She did really good, as well," Escobar said. "I tried to stay as calm as I could, but she was walking us through it."

Carpenter, in turn, credited her training.

"We have protocols to follow, so that definitely helped," she said. "Obviously, I've never given birth before, seen someone give birth. At the end, when the baby started crying, it was pretty cool. I kind got a little teary-eyed. It was kind of cool to heart that."

Emergency officials said of the more than 400,000 calls that come into Manatee County 911 each year, only about 100 are labor calls. Of that relatively small number, only about a handful result in an actual delivery before emergency crews arrive.

Kaitlin said this was baby No. 2 for her, and she wouldn't have had it any other way.

"I told (Mauricio) I fell in love with him all over again and more, because I had entrusted him with every bit of my being, and it was the scariest yet most rewarding day," Kaitlin said. "That was just a wild entrance to make."