A moment of reprieve... Alexia Cassar cradling her newborn Julian after nearly giving birth on a busy bus lane. Photos: Chris Sant Fournier

Stuck in traffic and despairing as his wife was about to give birth in a busy bus lane, Jesmond Cassar was mightily relieved when three police officers came to the rescue.

These three “guardian angels” escorted them through heavy traffic, and they made it to hospital just in time. Baby Julian was born as his mother was being whisked through the corridors of the emergency department.

Alexia Cassar’s contractions started at 4am and when they were at five-minute intervals, the Cassars called the hospital but “they told us it was still too early”.

Mr Cassar, however, was fully aware that when his wife had their first son Juan, who is now eight, her contractions had speeded up quickly and the baby popped out. With this in mind, they called Mater Dei again at 5.30am and were told to “come over”.

Some time passed as they packed, awoke their son and took him to his grandmother’s home in Żabbar. And as the morning rush hour traffic set in, Ms Cassar’s contractions started coming very fast.

The 42-year-old father suddenly feared that his second son was about to be born in his car and, feeling he had no alternative, pulled over in a bus lane in busy Garibaldi Road, Luqa, at around 6.30am.

I tried to calm her down – she wanted to get out of the car and give birth on the street

“She started screaming in pain – I panicked and parked. I was going crazy as I didn’t know what to do,” Mr Cassar from Fgura told Times of Malta.

Workers from nearby factories heard Ms Cassar’s screams and came out to see what happened, further agitating the expectant father. He called the hospital to send an ambulance and meanwhile tried to stop his wife from getting out of the car.

“I tried to calm her down, because she wanted to give birth on the street,” he said.

Mr Cassar called the hospital again and they informed him that traffic policemen had been dispatched to help.

Within minutes, Constable Simon Schembri arrived on site and found “the husband out of the car panicking and the wife screaming in pain”.

Constable Schembri was quickly joined by Sergeant Major Dunstan Camilleri who was greeted by a screaming Ms Cassar heavily in labour, about to take off her jeans to give birth.

Sergeant Major Camilleri, who manages police officers on the field, quickly took the decision to escort Mr Cassar to hospital once he realised the ambulance was not going to make it on time.

Officers got new mother to hospital in nick of time

“It was a matter of seconds but I remained calm – I told the father to get in the back and told Simon to drive,” he recounted.

He parked his motorbike by the side of the road and got behind the wheel. “I told Mr Cassar to hold her hand – I told her to breathe in and out and to remain calm because we were going to get there,” he said with a quiet smile.

Escorted by Sergeant Major Camilleri on his motorcycle with the sirens blaring, Constable Schembri drove to hospital – while Mr Cassar shared his wife’s pain.

“I think I must have a few bites on my arm!” her husband said.

They rushed through traffic and were met by Police Sergeant Norman Xuereb on the Santa Venera bypass who escorted them to Mater Dei.

I think I must have a few bites on my arm!

Throughout the drive, Constable Schembri’s mind was focused on the road while feeling the responsibility of driving a pregnant woman, in a civilian’s car and the risk they were taking.

“I just drove and remained focused.”

Forewarned by Sgt Xuereb, the nurses at the emergency department were prepared for Ms Cassar’s arrival and rushed her in on a stretcher. He said: “I heard the baby cry before I had time to remove my helmet and gloves.”

The birth was so fast that as the nurses were preparing to take Ms Cassar in, she pulled down her jeans and Julian arrived – much to the astonishment of her husband.

“It was a good and bad experience – I didn’t know what was going to happen to her and I was worried. But it was a great moment as my son was born – even one of the police officers felt it as he sat down trembling.”

Sergeant Major Camilleri admitted it was a “highly emotional moment”, especially when Mr Cassar came out and told them: “Well done officers – you had a baby boy”.

In fact, once it was all over, he stopped by the lotto booth on the Birkirkara bypass and “what had happened just sank in”.

All three officers felt the emotion and thrill of the experience – although all three said they did “nothing out of the ordinary as they were just doing their job”.

“We aren’t only there to hand out fines but to provide a service to the community and that is what we did,” Constable Schembri said.

The other two nodded.

“We do it from the heart,” Sergeant Major Camilleri said.