A former Cortez resident made New York headlines on Saturday with the unconventional birth of his second daughter.
Kristi and Adrian Zayne Koppenhafer welcomed their second child early in the morning on April 22. But they weren’t quite expecting the way in which the roughly 7-pound Skylar made her appearance.
The couple, who now live in Gloversville, New York, delivered her on the side of the highway with the help of two state patrol troopers and their 5-year-old daughter, Hailey.
Koppenhafer said his wife woke him up to go to the hospital about 4:30 a.m., but they were only about halfway there when it became clear they wouldn’t make it in time. They pulled over and called 911, but the first people who responded were the troopers, who Koppenhafer said had limited medical training.
“The troopers were kind of shocked,” he said.
But they spread a blanket on the ground beside the road and did their best to help, and Kristi Koppenhafer delivered the baby with about three contractions. Emergency medical technicians arrived shortly afterward. Koppenhafer said the entire labor and delivery were over in about an hour and a half.
He said he didn’t feel he helped much with the birth, but that he never doubted his wife would come through it all right.
“I figured she knew what she (was) doing more than I did,” he said. “As soon as we stopped, everything kind of went on automatic.”
The couple’s older daughter was in her car seat throughout the ordeal, and Koppenhafer said she handled the experience very well. Both mother and baby spent the night at a hospital in Troy, New York, but were healthy and thriving as of Wednesday.
One of the first things the family did when they got home was to contact their relatives in Cortez, where Koppenhafer grew up. Koppenhafer said most of them got to see the new baby through Skype over the weekend, including his mother, who was in Vietnam at the time. He and Kristi Koppenhafer were also interviewed by several local news agencies, and he said he was surprised to see so many people express interest in his family.
The couple hope to have another child eventually, but Koppenhafer said he’d rather not repeat the roadside experience.
“If it’s going to be that fast, I think the next baby might be a home birth,” he said.
Adrian Zayne Koppenhafer is son of Osprey Packs service manager Katie Koppenhafer. Kristi Koppenhafer is a granddaughter of Ray and Rita Wallace of Cortez and Ray and Carolyn Hager of Cortez.