News

Medic Helps Deliver Baby on Wash. Freeway

Andy Hobbs

05/08/2014

May 07--An Olympia couple delivered a new baby boy Tuesday night in the front seat of their pickup truck.

Brian Evans was rushing his wife, Trista, to the University of Washington hospital in Seattle after her water broke. With contractions less than a minute apart, Evans exited I-5 at Mounts Road and stopped their Ford F-150 at the end of the off-ramp.

Then he called for help.

"We pulled over because we knew we weren't going to make it," said Evans, who quickly found aid from passersby. "The first person I flagged down happened to be a nurse."

Jason Kenney, a firefighter-paramedic from JBLM Fire Department, soon arrived on the scene and delivered the baby.

Nash Kelson Evans was born at 8:10 p.m., weighing 7 pounds 14 ounces and measuring 21 inches. Within 10 minutes, the mother and baby boarded an ambulance that was headed to Seattle Children's Hospital.

"It was all hands on," said Kenney, noting that he got assistance from Nash's daddy during the birth. "I let him help as much as I could. He was pretty excited."

During his 13-year career, Kenney has responded to multiple calls for women in labor. In the past, the babies he helped deliver were partially born by the time he arrived. However, this was the first time Kenney had done a full delivery, he said.

The couple initially planned to deliver their baby Saturday with an induced labor, Evans said, but Nash decided to see the world a little sooner -- and join siblings Gage and Andin.

Along with their healthy baby boy, Evans said his wife is also recovering well from the delivery.

"All the doctors were surprised to see her walking, and commented on how well she was doing," he said. "She was a super trooper."

Andy Hobbs: 360-704-6869 or ahobbs@theolympian.com