Paramedics deliver baby on bay bridge
BY FRANKLIN HAYES Gulf Breeze News franklin@gulfbreezenews.com

Franklin Hayes/Gulf Breeze News Julie Diederichsen holds her newborn, Payton, while staying at Baptist Hospital in Gulf Breeze. Payton was born in an ambulance on the three-mile bridge in the early morning of Aug. 14.

Some people like to live in the fast lane, while some are actually born there.

Julie Diederichsen, 33, gave birth to her fourth child, Payton Ross, while traversing the threemile bridge at 80 mph in the back of an ambulance. Diederichsen was on her way to Baptist Hospital in Pensacola, but her new baby girl refused to wait and was born near the midpoint of the bridge.

The situation holds special significance for Diederichsen's mother, Susan Mitchell of Gulf Breeze, because odd birthplaces seem to run in the family. Mitchell said her fourth child was born in a van due to an impending Michigan snowstorm and Diederichsen's grandmother also gave birth to her fourth child in a doctor's office before making it to the hospital.

"I tell all my other children to quit at three," Mitchell said.

Diederichsen, a Santa Rosa County resident, said she was a little confused as to what the official birthplace on her daughter's birth certificate would be. The mother said her infant daughter was born closer to Gulf Breeze than Pensacola.

"Because she received her birthing care at Baptist Hospital in Pensacola, her birth certificate will say she was born in Pensacola," explained Ashley Hodge with Baptist Healthcare. "It's almost as if she had the baby here."

Diederichsen lives in Holley By the Sea in Navarre and said she planned to give birth at Santa Rosa Medical Center in Milton, but fate would lead her down a different path.

"I went to the doctor that morning and they said it would be a couple more weeks," Diederichsen said. "Then at 9:30 [that night] I started having big contractions."

Although Gulf Breeze Hospital would have been the closest location to Diederichsen when she began having labor pains on Aug. 13., hospital officials explained that the facility in Gulf Breeze does not feature obstetrical services. Diederichsen and the child's father, Mike Ross, headed toward Mitchell's home in the Midway area to drop off their children before heading north to Santa Rosa Medical Center.

"By the time we unpacked the kids I said 'I'm not going to make it,'" Diederichsen said.

According to 911 transcripts, the family dialed 911 at approximately 11:36 p.m. and was greeted by paramedics with Lifeguard Ambulance at approximately 11:48 p.m. Young Payton was born not long after at 12:12 a.m. en route to the hospital.

Diederichsen said the birth was relatively free of any other complications. At birth, Payton Ross was 18 inches long, weighed just over six pounds, and was said to be in good health.