Couple delivers baby on side of Highway 17 near Pembroke, Ont.
Anthony Periard can now claim the title of doctor, deliveryman, and dad.
On Friday morning, Periard and his partner Julia Turpin were driving from Ottawa to the Pembroke Hospital to give birth to their new baby girl. The couple says they recently moved to Ottawa from the valley to be closer to family.
"I was speeding a little to get here on time, and out of nowhere she started getting closer and closer contractions," Periard recalls.
Periard says they were ten minutes away from the Pembroke Hospital on Highway 17 when they ran out of time. The 27-year-old then says he pulled onto the side of the road.
"I didn't know what to do so I phoned 9-1-1 and tried to get someone from the ambulance online," Periard tells CTV News. "And as soon as he picked up the phone the baby was already out and crying in her lap."
"It was terrifying," remembers Turpin, sitting in the passenger seat. "I didn't know what was going to happen. I'm just happy everything turned out good."
With the hard work done, Periard says the emergency operator instructed him to tie a shoelace around the umbilical cord while they waited for help to arrive.
"I reached into the back seat and grabbed a bunch of sweaters to make sure they were warm. I cleaned her all up and we sat on the side of the highway for about 15 minutes waiting for the ambulance to come," says Periard.
"As medics, we're there to support," says Nicholas Leriche, operations commander with the Renfrew County Paramedic Service. "Having a baby is a very natural process; mom will do all the work. Dad being on the phone, calling 9-1-1 was the absolute right thing to do."
The couple says they picked out the name River for their daughter last year. But little did they know how appropriate the name would come to be.
"It just so happened on the way there we had to pull over by the Muskrat River at the bottom of White Water Road and Highway 17. She just decided she wanted to come right beside the river."
With everyone happy and healthy, Periard is looking forward to a less eventful drive back home.
"Just a miracle that it happened the way it did."
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Quebec nurse had to clean up after husband's death in Montreal hospital
On a night she should have been mourning, a nurse from Quebec's Laurentians region says she was forced to clean up her husband after he died at a hospital in Montreal.
Northern Ont. lawyer who abandoned clients in child protection cases disbarred
A North Bay, Ont., lawyer who abandoned 15 clients – many of them child protection cases – has lost his licence to practise law.
Bank of Canada officials split on when to start cutting interest rates
Members of the Bank of Canada's governing council were split on how long the central bank should wait before it starts cutting interest rates when they met earlier this month.
Maple Leafs fall to Bruins in Game 3, trail series 2-1
Brad Marchand scored twice, including the winner in the third period, and added an assist as the Boston Bruins downed the Toronto Maple Leafs 4-2 to take a 2-1 lead in their first-round playoff series Wednesday
Cuban government apologizes to Montreal-area family after delivering wrong body
Cuba's foreign affairs minister has apologized to a Montreal-area family after they were sent the wrong body following the death of a loved one.
'It was instant karma': Viral video captures failed theft attempt in Nanaimo, B.C.
Mounties in Nanaimo, B.C., say two late-night revellers are lucky their allegedly drunken antics weren't reported to police after security cameras captured the men trying to steal a heavy sign from a downtown business.
What is changing about Canada's capital gains tax and how does it impact me?
The federal government's proposed change to capital gains taxation is expected to increase taxes on investments and mainly affect wealthy Canadians and businesses. Here's what you need to know about the move.
New Indigenous loan guarantee program a 'really big deal,' Freeland says at Toronto conference
Canada's Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland was among the 1,700 delegates attending the two-day First Nations Major Projects Coalition (FNMPC) conference that concluded Tuesday in Toronto.
'Life was not fair to him': Daughter of N.B. man exonerated of murder remembers him as a kind soul
The daughter of a New Brunswick man recently exonerated from murder, is remembering her father as somebody who, despite a wrongful conviction, never became bitter or angry.