Pregnant Wis. mom drives 3 hours in labor so soldier back from Iraq can witness son’s birth
By APThursday, January 21, 2010
Wis. mom drives 3 hours in labor to meet husband
WEST ALLIS, Wis. — Not even labor contractions could keep a Wisconsin woman from driving to meet her husband as the guardsman returned home from Iraq.
Johana Ortiz had gone into labor hours before her husband’s plane landed at Camp Douglas, but she defied her doctors orders and made the nearly three-hour trip from Milwaukee.
She says she really wanted her husband to be there for the birth because he was in Iraq during her pregnancy.
When the plane with about 300 soldiers landed last week, commanders directed U.S. Army Spc. Melvin Ortiz to leave the aircraft first. He sprinted to the hangar, hugged his wife and they hopped into an SUV.
They then rushed to a suburban Milwaukee hospital, where a healthy 7 pound, 8 ounce boy named Eduardo was born.
