Oct. 14--A father delivered his son on the grass at a Romeoville gas station after his wife's labor moved faster than their car did on the way to the hospital.
Alan Monzon, 36, was driving his wife, Andrea Monzon, 30, both of Minooka, about 9:30 a.m. Sunday on Interstate 55 when her contractions intensified, he said. He pulled over at the Circle K gas station on Weber Road in Romeoville and called OnStar emergency dispatchers.
"I put her on the grass there and made her comfortable," Alan Monzon said, because he could see the baby's emerging head. "She had no epidural and no pain medicine, so she was going through hell."
By 10 a.m., Vincent Webber Monzon was born. His middle name, Monzon said, comes from Weber Road, but with an additional "b."
An OnStar dispatcher had walked the father through the birth, including cutting the umbilical cord.
"I was just guiding my son to come out," Monzon said. "I grabbed his shoulders and pulled him out."
He wrapped Vincent in a clean blanket from the car and handed him to his mother.
"After that, my wife was just in shock," Monzon said.
Vincent's older brother, Dominic, 4, and Monzon's mother-in-law were in the car and helped make sure the birth went smoothly, Monzon said.
By the time Romeoville police officers arrived, Vincent was in his mom's arms, said Romeoville Police Cmdr. John Ferdinardo.
"The father is the real hero in that story," Ferdinardo said.
Mother and son were taken by ambulance to Adventist Bolingbrook Hospital, where both were doing well, Monzon said.
"That 45 minutes felt like two to three hours," he said. "I've got a very strong wife."
gbookwalter@tribpub.com
