Mother Nature delivers twice

Woman in labor gets police escort

Boston police officers who helped Eileen Ponce get to Brigham and Women's Hospital checked in on the happy mother and her daughter, Jaslene. From left were Dan Bausemer, Bobby Ward, Tony Cruz, and Tim Coughlin. (mark garfinkel/pool)

The pregnant 19-year-old was in labor, breathing through excruciating pain and convinced she was about to deliver her baby in her brother-in-law's pickup truck.

The Ford Ranger was on Columbus Avenue and Tremont Street in Roxbury, less than a mile from Brigham and Women's Hospital.

But with cars clogging the streets during Thursday night's storm, Eileen Ponce was terrified that she would not get to the hospital in time.

Then her brother-in-law got out of the pickup and flagged down three officers directing traffic.

The officers rushed over and began to wave cars out of the way.

A cruiser near the pickup truck flashed its lights and turned on the siren, trying to alert drivers.

Two more officers directing traffic at Brigham Circle rushed to help, and soon the officers were banging on windows, ordering people to drive up on the sidewalk so the Ford could get through.

"After that for us it was smooth sailing," said Ramón Pepin, the baby's 24-year-old father, who was also in the truck.

Yesterday morning at 10:22, Ponce's daughter, Jaslene, was born, weighing nearly 9 pounds.

Four of the officers - Tim Coughlin, Bobby Ward, Dan Bausemer, and Tony Cruz - visited Ponce and Pepin at the hospital yesterday and gave the couple a bag of baby presents, including clothes, blankets, and a rubber duck in a police uniform.

"If it wasn't for you guys, I wouldn't be here," Ponce said, smiling at the men as she held her baby.

"You would be in traffic," quipped Ward.