Dodgers’ Catcher, Wife Deliver Baby In Front Seat Of Car
A.J. Ellis has a daughter, 4, and a son, 2, that were born with him out on the road travelling for his chosen profession — Major League Baseball player. The Dodgers‘ catcher’s wife, Cindy, tried to make sure he made it to the birth of their third child this week. Once again Ellis was on the road when Cindy gave this birth, just this time he was in the driver’s seat going 75 miles per hour in a hopeless attempt to beat the baby to the hospital.
ESPN reports that Cindy gave birth to a happy, healthy baby girl. Audrey Elizabeth Ellis was born in the front passenger seat of a Toyota Camry. While Cindy was telling A.J. the baby was on the way, the ballplayer remained calm, trying to assure his wife they’d reach the hospital in time. They were about 18 miles away when the baby was born on Wisconsin’s Interstate 43. There wasn’t even time to pull over.
“Cindy went into instant mom mode, totally calm and wrapping Audrey in her jacket,” A.J. Ellis said. “Meanwhile I’m panicking and screaming. Cindy was the absolute hero.”
When Audrey was born, A.J. Ellis was advised to proceed to the nearest emergency room. While the experience of seeing your child born was moving, ESPN noted it was also gross. After baby, of course, comes the placenta, which A.J. Ellis described as looking like “purple brains.”
The L.A. Times reports some hospital staff may have given the Camry a preliminary cleaning, but A.J. Ellis will no doubt be paying for the car’s complete interior cleaning — since the vehicle wasn’t even his. The catcher had knee surgery in the off-season and was unable to get in and out of his Chevy Prizm. The Camry belongs to his father-in-law.
While the experience isn’t what the couple planned for, no doubt Cindy and A.J. Ellis will always remember the day their third child was born in the front seat of a Toyota while speeding down the highway.
“I feel bad,” he said. “Some day Audrey will ask where she was born, and I’ll say somewhere between mile marker 41 and 42.”
