Capital Medical Center

Keri Brenner
The Olympian

Shelton woman gives birth in car on U.S. Highway 101

OLYMPIA — One minute, Melissa Williams was soaking in a hot bath in her
Shelton home, trying to relax in between labor pains.
Less than an hour later, about 1:15 a.m. Thursday, she was retrieving her first
child, a son, Logan David Williams, out of her stretch pants while riding in the
front seat of her car on the way to Capital Medical Center.
“He came out real quick,” said father Ken Williams, 33, who was driving their
green 1999 Pontiac Grand Prix four-door sedan at the time. “He almost shot out.”
Ken Williams put on his emergency flashers, pulled onto the shoulder along U.S.
Highway 101 just past the Steamboat Island Road exit and called 9-1-1.
By the time paramedics arrived a few minutes later, the infant was nestled
against his mother’s chest, the umbilical cord still attached, crying as strongly as
his new lungs would allow.
After paramedics snipped the cord and checked Logan’s breathing, Melissa
Williams, 32, wrapped him in her pullover sweater and put him down next to her
on the stretcher for the ride to the hospital. Logan, who had been due today,
checked in at 6 pounds, 12 ounces.
It was not exactly the arrival the parents had planned, but they’ll take it, Ken
Williams said.
“The only thing that’s important is that my son is OK, very healthy,” said
Williams, a part-time employee at the United Parcel Service freight-loading dock
in Tumwater. “If we still have the car when he grows up, it’s a classic — and it’s
his.”
Keri Brenner covers Thurston County and Tumwater for The Olympian. She can
be reached at 360-754-5435 or kbrenner@theolympian.com.