Truck Driver Duo Deliver Baby Boy
ALEXANDRIA, VI — On Nov. 30, 2013, two professional truck drivers helped deliver a baby at a Denny’s restaurant, likely saving the boy’s life.
“I’m so humbled by this experience, and so grateful that God chose me to help bring a new life into this world. It happened so fast… there was no possible way an ambulance could have gotten there in time,” says Fredrick Robatcek, a truck driver for OK-based FTC Transportation.
It was a little after 5:00 a.m. when Peter Holland, from Waterdown ON stopped at a Denny’s in Texas for a coffee. The Challenger Motor Freight driver was on his way to Mexico and was preparing his morning cup o’ Joe before hitting the road again when a pregnant woman and her sister walked in.
A little while away, Robatcek of Sauk Rapids, MN was eating breakfast.
Everything changed when the woman, who was two weeks overdue, in labor and on her way to the hospital screamed in agony.
Robatcek and Holland rushed over just in time to see that the baby was already on its way.
They laid the woman down onto the carpet and as the baby moved a bit more, realized the umbilical cord was wrapped around the baby’s neck.
Robatcek was on the phone with 911. Meanwhile, Holland unwrapped the umbilical cord from the baby’s neck so he could breathe. The baby boy was born at 10 lb. 4 oz. in Denny’s. He was cleaned off by the two professional truck drivers and paramedics cut the umbilical cord when they arrived at the scene.
“Thanks for being there, and not leaving one minute before or one minute after,” the mother told a local newspaper. “Thank you for saving my baby’s life.”
Holland recalls how the baby took a big gasp as he came out and then grabbed Holland’s little finger.
“It wasn’t until I got back in my truck and was headed toward Mexico that I realized… I just helped someone through a very difficult situation and delivered a healthy baby boy—and all before breakfast,” he says.
It’s a day neither of them will likely forget.
The Truckload Carriers Association named Robatcek and Holland Highway Angels and gave them Highway Angel lapel pins, certificates, and patches. FTC Transportation, Inc., and Challenger Motor Freight, of Cambridge, ON also received certificates acknowledging that their two drivers are Highway Angels.
Since the program started in August 1997, hundreds of drivers have been recognized as Highway Angels for the unusual kindness, courtesy, and courage they have shown others while on the job.
To nominate a driver or learn more about the program and its honorees, visit the Highway Angel web page or Facebook page. For additional information, contact TCA at (703) 838-1950 or angel@truckload.org.
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