A mother and father are happily at home after the newest member of their family was delivered at the side of the Coquihalla Highway between Merritt and Kamloops last week.

Merritt resident Dan Bigelow delivered his daughter, Mikayla, en route to a delivery room in Kamloops.

He and his wife, Kay-dee, thought they had enough time to reach the hospital when they left Merritt shortly after 2 a.m. on Monday, May 7.

“It was pretty terrifying at first, but I just had to do it,” Dan said. “Adrenaline kind of took over and I didn’t really think about the terrifying aspect again until after.”

Dan didn’t have a lot of time to respond, as Mikayla was born about 10 minutes after Kay-dee’s water broke, about 40 kilometres outside Merritt.

Before the delivery, Dan called 9-1-1, where he reached Emergency Medical Dispatcher Corey de Deller.

“This is the first time I have ever had a full child delivery en route to the hospital,” de Deller said. “I’m so amazed I had such a great, calm caller. If you’re going to have a dad, you want Dan Bigelow as your dad.”

He said emergency callers are often extremely panicked and incoherent, but Dan was calm throughout the process.

de Deller received a stork pin, which is given to dispatchers who help deliver a baby.

“You know, other dispatchers have come up to me and said, ‘I have been here for 18 years and I still haven’t gotten my stork pin yet,” de Deller said, noting he began his employment in October 2011. “In this situation, it was a matter of time and circumstance and we were able to end up having to do it on the side of the road.”

He said he bought the couple a teddy bear that he intends to present to them. He is also planning to give them the stork pin.

“I think he deserves [the pin] more than myself,” he said. “I basically just guided him through it but he was able to make it happen.”

Dan and de Deller were the ideal baby delivery match.

“We couldn’t have done any of that without [de Deller],” Dan said. “He’s a hero.”

Now that the family is settling in with their new baby girl, and the frenzy of events is over, Dan has a chance to reflect on last week’s drama.

“It’s pretty much etched into my brain now,” he said. “I remember most of it, but there are parts – after listening to the 9-1-1 tapes – that I didn’t remember saying. But for the most part it’s pretty clear.”