Truck driver delivers third roadside baby

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DALLAS, April 11 (UPI) -- A truck driver whose mother was a midwife said a baby he helped deliver on the side of a Texas interstate was his third on-the-job delivery.

Michael Hawthorne, a driver for Vineland, N.J., company NFI Industries, said he pulled over to check his load on a secluded stretch of road about 75 miles northwest of Dallas March 27 when Jack Smith ran over to him from a parked car and told him his wife, Tammy, was in labor and his cellphone had no service in the area, ABCNews.com reported Wednesday.

"I went ahead, got my bottle of water, gloves and birth kit and took it to the car," he said.

Hawthorne, whose mother and grandmother were midwives, said he started carrying a "birth kit" in his truck after helping two other couples deliver roadside babies during the past 13 years.

The truck driver said the healthy baby boy was born just as emergency responders arrived.

"The state police showed up. Meanwhile I am trying to keep the mother calmed. The mother gave birth. I cleaned it up what I could, wrapped the baby in a towel," he said.

Sidney Brown, chief executive officer of NFI, said the company is nominating Hawthorne for a third Highway Angel Award, an award given by the Truckload Carriers Association to truck drivers who display heroism on the road.

"Mike is an extraordinary individual and we're proud to have him as part of the NFI family," Brown said.