Newborn in a hurry meets Hub officers

Hours after helping Flor Ayes of Lynn deliver her 7-pound son, Christian, in a car in East Boston, Officers Anthony Francis, left, and Joel Rodriguez visited them at Mass. General. (JUSTINE HUNT/GLOBE STAFF)

It was 11:50 Sunday night when Flor Ayes told her husband, Christian Santamaria, that her water had broken. The couple and their 11-year-old daughter piled into the family's silver Honda Accord and started driving from their Lynn home to Massachusetts General Hospital.

"We were like halfway, and she was like, 'I can't hold it,' " said Santamaria.

He pulled over in East Boston and ran into a convenience store to call for help.

Officer Joel Rodriguez and his partner, Officer Anthony Francis, got to the scene at Neptune Road and Bennington Street at 12:45 a.m. Rodriguez quickly donned his gloves and climbed into the front seat of the car to deliver the baby. In only a minute or two, Rodriguez said, the infant boy was born.

"She did great; she was a trouper," Francis said of Ayes.

It was the first child for Santamaria, who waited outside as his wife gave birth. His stepdaughter, also named Flor, was in the back seat while her mother was delivering her little brother.

"I watched it a little," said the fifth-grader. "I just stopped, though. It was kind of weird."

Once the baby was out, Rodriguez wrapped him in blankets and had the mother hold her baby against her chest to keep him warm.

About 15 minutes later, an ambulance arrived and took baby Christian and his mother to Mass. General.

Later in the day, the family met with reporters in a hospital room.

Ayes, an immigrant from Honduras who speaks little English, said she was "happy, very happy" about how everything turned out. Christian weighs 7 pounds and is 19 inches long and very healthy, Santamaria said.

Officers Rodriguez and Francis each presented the infant with a small teddy bear emblazoned with the Boston Police Department insignia.

Santamaria was grateful for the hard work of the two officers, saying he was close to having to deliver his son himself.

"If it wasn't for God, for them, it would have happened," he said.

For the Ayes-Santamaria family, the story of Christian's birth will always be memorable.

"I'm never going to sell that car. I'm going to keep it forever," said Santamaria. "I'm going to give it to him someday."