Dramatic birth in border crossing
Baby born on helicopter Susan Carroll
Republic Tucson Bureau
Jun. 6, 2005 12:00 AM
TUCSON - Elva Hernandez's contractions were getting closer. Every 90 seconds. Every 80 seconds.
At seven months pregnant, she was about to deliver a premature baby in the middle of the Arizona desert. Her eldest son, 14-year-old Alejandro, and a cousin had already gone off three hours earlier, searching for the U.S. Border Patrol to bring help. Her husband stayed with her as the contractions started getting closer.
She prayed, bargained with God, swearing her seventh attempt to cross the U.S.-Mexico border illegally would be her last.
"I promised if everything went well, if he saved my family, my children, we would go back to Mexico," she said. "We wouldn't try to cross again."
Out on Arivaca Road, Hernandez's son and cousin flagged down Border Patrol agents, who dispatched a helicopter and spotted a fire set by the family.
Agents reached Hernandez, quickly determined she was in labor, and called headquarters to dispatch a medical helicopter, said Vincent Hampel, deputy commander of the Tucson search and rescue squad. The contractions were a minute apart, he said.
Hernandez, 29, was loaded onto a LifeNet Arizona medical helicopter and delivered a 3½-pound baby boy 20 minutes into the flight on May 29, six minutes from University Medical Center in Tucson, said Rick Weiler, program director for the emergency medical company.
The baby, named Christian, remains in intensive care at the Tucson hospital.
The mother was released Tuesday and said the family plans to return to Xalapa, Mexico, as soon as the baby is well enough to travel.
Hernandez and her family left their home in the southern state of Veracruz and arrived at the Arizona-Sonora border April 21. They paid a smuggler $4,500 upfront and promised to pay more when they arrived in Chicago, but they couldn't make it through the border gantlet.
Christian, a U.S. citizen, will be able to apply for legal status on his parents' behalf once he reaches age 21.
Poster Comment:
- The US taxpayer will get the bill.