THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, December 20, 1995 TAG: 9512200451
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B3 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY LARRY W. BROWN, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: NORFOLK LENGTH: Medium: 58 lines
Cassandra Cohen, strapped into the passenger seat of the family's 1995 Dodge, yelled to her husband that he was about to become a father for the second time.
Her husband glanced from his driver's seat, saw his daughter being born, and acted fast.
``I put my foot on the brake,'' John Cohen II said. ``I had barely enough time to catch the baby.''
Minutes later, the Cohens were en route to Portsmouth Naval Hospital with their 7-pound, 3-ounce girl, delivered on Interstate-264 about 8:30 a.m. Tuesday.
``I still feel numb all over,'' John Cohen said Tuesday afternoon from his wife's hospital room. ``It's basically still a shock to me.''
Cohen, a Navy surgical technician, said he was at work at the naval hospital when his wife phoned from their Dam Neck home in Virginia Beach.
Thinking she would be in labor for at least four hours, he returned home and called for a Navy ambulance.
He then remembered that the second baby may not take as long to deliver as the first and decided to drive her to the hospital himself. The Cohen's have a 4-year-old son, John III, nicknamed ``3-J.''
Cohen was coaching his wife to breathe and relax, while trying to cut through the rush-hour traffic. Then, in between huffs and puffs, Cassandra Cohen let her husband know their daughter was not going to wait.
``I'm a Star Trek fan,'' said John Cohen, 24. ``At that time, all I thought about was hitting Warp 9.''
Luckily, a Kempsville Volunteer Rescue ambulance was a few cars ahead. Cohen flagged it down. He then pulled over to the highway's median near the Brambleton Avenue exit.
``I slapped her on the booty a couple of times,'' Cohen said. Then with help from Kempsville crew they clipped the baby's umbilical cord.
A state trooper helped monitor traffic, Cohen said. And emergency workers from the naval hospital arrived a few minutes later.
Cassandra Cohen, 25, and the family's newest addition - Kirsten Alexandria Breanna - were doing fine at the hospital Tuesday afternoon. The baby, who was scheduled to be born Jan. 16 was resting the hospitals neo-natal unit.
``I feel great,'' John Cohen said. ``I know that the good Lord was with us.''
After the blur of Kirsten's delivery, things seemed to slow down, he said. He credited everyone from the Kempsville rescue workers to the labor and delivery workers at the hospital for helping ease the delivery and his nerves.
Though he has assisted, this was John Cohen's first ``delivery.''
``But my wife did the delivery,'' he said. ``I was just there to catch it.''
KEYWORDS: BIRTH INTERSTATE 264 by CNB