Special delivery gives Lewiston couple reason to celebrate

GENESEE – Dominick Porquis remembers seeing an online video last year about a couple who were stuck in traffic when the woman gives birth.

“The dad had his phone camera out and then the woman says, ‘Here comes the baby!’ ” Porquis recalled. “You see that and think, ‘Oh, that will never happen.’ ”

Famous last words, indeed.

Porquis, 25, and his wife, Alaina, 24, managed to avoid the traffic congestion, but they didn’t quite make it to the hospital before Alaina gave birth to the couple’s second daughter Saturday morning.

They were driving on U.S. Highway 95 at about 7:30 a.m., on their way to Gritman Medical Center in Moscow, when the newborn decided she was ready to enter the world.

“I pulled over and ran around to open the passenger door,” Porquis said in a telephone interview Saturday afternoon. “I pulled the baby out while my wife pushed, then wrapped her in my hoodie. Man, what a way to start the day.”

The mother and daughter were both doing fine, he said.

Their eventful day began Friday evening, when Alaina began to experience contractions. The couple, who live in Lewiston, drove to Gritman at about 9 p.m., but returned home a few hours later. They drove back to Moscow at about 4 a.m., but were sent home again when it appeared nothing would happen.

“We got back home at about 6 a.m.,” Porquis said. “My wife laid down and a while later her water broke, so we loaded up the car.”

Porquis said he’d never imagined having to deliver the baby.

“My wife’s definitely a planner,” he said. “She has a Plan A, Plan B, Plan C. But there was no plan for having the baby on the side of the highway. I was crying; I don’t know if they were tears of joy or just adrenaline from all the coffee. I was worked up pretty good.”

After calling 911, the couple got back in the car and drove to the Genesee turnoff, where they were met by first responders from the Genesee Fire Department. The EMTs helped Porquis cut the umbilical cord and then took the mother and newborn to Gritman.

He and his wife haven’t decided on a name for their new daughter yet. They may want to calm down a bit after Saturday’s excitement before doing so.

“I’m still getting a little rush just talking about it,” Porquis said.