Jonathon Sadowski
The Journal Times, Racine, Wisc.
STURTEVANT, Wis. — Kenosha County Sheriff’s Department Deputy Allison George learned how to deliver a baby during her law enforcement training, but she never thought she would have to use that knowledge on the job — and certainly not on an Interstate 94 offramp in the middle of a snowstorm.
But George did just that: She helped Holly and William Leppert of Sturtevant deliver their third son, Nathan, at 9:46 p.m. on Jan. 18 on the southbound Highway 50 exit as a snowstorm blanketed the area with as much as 10 inches of snow. The group was reunited Saturday morning at the Lepperts’ home.
“In the academy, we’re actually taught how to deliver babies,” George said. “And at the time, I was kind of laughing and joking around in the class like, ‘Are we done yet? Is it lunchtime yet?’ ”
The Lepperts beamed as they spoke of Nathan’s birth, and George held the baby after presenting him with a proclamation from Kenosha County Sheriff David Beth naming him an “official” junior deputy for the Sheriff’s Department. Nathan also received a onesie with the Sheriff’s Department logo and a gift bag of toys.
Holly Leppert said her water broke at about 8:15 that night, and as her husband drove her and their other sons, 1-year-old Oliver and 2-year-old William Jr., to the St. Catherine’s Medical Center Campus in Pleasant Prairie, she sensed Nathan was not going to wait for them to reach their destination.
“I knew he was coming, no matter what,” Holly said.
They pulled over and called 911.
“When I called the 911 operator, I was kind of Googling it at the same time what to do,” William said with a laugh. “Outside I was calm; inside I was a nervous wreck.”
Nathan is home now and a healthy 8 pounds, though he spent 10 days in the neonatal intensive care unit at St. Joseph’s Hospital in West Bend because the cold air gave him a pneumothorax, or partly collapsed lung.
The Lepperts said Oliver and William Jr. had no idea their baby brother was being born in the car, and that Oliver even slept through the whole ordeal. But their parents were certainly awake and aware, and so was George.
“This probably will be the best moment that will stick with me the rest of my career,” George said.
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©2019 The Journal Times, Racine, Wisc.