Baby is born on Interstate 65 in Louisville during traffic blockage for President Obama's motorcade; father, nurse tell story

Nurse and EMT worker and baby
Photo from Floyd Memorial
Hospital Facebook page

A baby boy was born along Interstate 65 April 2 in Louisville because the road was closed for President Barack Obama's motorcade and they couldn't get to the hospital.

Because he stayed in Washington to announce the nuclear deal with Iran, Obama was three hours late, putting him in Louisville right at the beginning of rush hour and causing a traffic nightmare.

MetroSafe told WAVE-TV it received a call at 5:25 p.m. saying a woman was in labor on I-65. And just before 6 p.m., the baby, an 8-pound, 9-ounce boy, Arley Keith Satterly, son of Jessica Brown and Zakk Satterley was born, WHAS reports. “We couldn't get nowhere, so I called 911,” Satterly said.

After Brown and Satterly realized that the baby was coming and they were in "traffic gridlock," Satterly began to ask the cars around them for help, Shalanna Taylor reports for WLKY-TV. “I started asking people in different cars if they knew anything about having a baby,” Satterly said.

One of them was a nurse, Tonia Vetter, Gill Corsey reports for WDRB-TV. "I told the dad, I said, 'I'm a high-risk nursery nurse at Floyd Memorial'," the hospital in New Albany, Ind., Vetter said. "It actually happened very, very quickly. ... I think she pushed one time and the head delivered, and then she pushed again and the baby was born." Other drivers provided a shoestring for the umbilical cord and a blanket to keep the baby warm, Corsey reports.

"I've attended a lot of deliveries, but I've never delivered a baby on my own, and I've certainly never delivered one in the middle of an interstate," Vetter said. "God was definitely watching over me, the baby, the mom, because she could have hemorrhaged. The baby could of had a cord or a shoulder or any number of complications could've happened."

An ambulance took Brown and Arley to the University of Louisville Hospital, where a spokesperson said the mom and baby were doing just fine and were in good condition.