UPLAND >> A 31-year-old father delivered his son in the family SUV early Sunday after his wife went into labor while en route to the hospital.
Bronson Chavez was born to Vanessa and Hugo Chavez at 1:44 a.m. Sunday in the garage of the family’s Upland home, according to San Bernardino fire officials and the joyful but exhausted father.
The newborn and mother rested comfortably at a hospital, Hugo said.
“They’re both doing amazing,” he said. “We’re really happy.”
Bronson joins sister Emma, 2, and brother Evver, 3, in the Chavez household. Hugo, a lifelong Azusa resident who works as a probation officer, recently moved with his family to Upland.
Vanessa was awakened by strong contractions about 1:30 a.m., her husband said. The couple gathered their two children scrambled into their SUV. But as soon as Hugo got the vehicle out of the garage and onto the road, “(Vanessa said) she did not believe she would make it to the hospital, as the contractions became stronger and within one minute apart,” Hugo said.
Hugo said he called 9-1-1. The operator told him to continue to the hospital if he was almost there, but to stop and wait for an ambulance if he was not. He pulled back in to the garage to wait for paramedics to help deliver the baby. But the Bronson was on a shorter schedule.
“In a calm panic, my wife advised there was no more time and the baby was coming now,” Hugo said.
“I saw the top of my son’s head. My feelings at this time were indescribable, so I won’t even try to explain what was going on in my head.”
Bronson quickly emerged into the world, and his father’s waiting hands.
“I looked up and saw the calm look on my wife’s face, as if she was saying ‘good job.’” Hugo said. “I then turned to my two children still strapped to their baby seats and witnessed their wide-awake faces as they gazed and their new baby brother.”
The 9-1-1 operator asked if the baby was crying, Hugo said.
Bronson soon let out his first cries.
“I was happy to see that. He opened his eyes and started looking around,” Hugo said. “It was quite an experience.”
The 9-1-1 operator congratulated the couple, Hugo said.
San Bernardino Fire Department Dispatch Supervisor Scott Fanus said a dispatch received the call reporting the impending birth at 1:41 a.m. Records indicated the baby was born at 1:44 a.m., before paramedics arrived.
The paramedics who arrived minutes later to deliver the baby were surprised to see the impatient infant waiting to greet them, Hugo said.
“They were all pretty shocked,” Hugo said. “They let me cut the umbilical cord.”
Hugo added that he was amazed by his wife’s collected demeanor during the hasty delivery process. “She was just very calm.”

PHOTOS(Courtesy): From top: 1.) Hugo Chavez, 31, of Upland, holds his newborn son, Bronson, minutes after delivering the baby inside the family SUV. 2.) A paramedics tends to mother Vanessa Hugo of Upland and her newborn son after a sudden birth left the family with no time to get to a hospital. Baby Bronson was delivered by his father in the family’s SUV. 3.)  Bronson Chavez was delivered by his father inside the family’s SUV in Upland on Sunday, Feb. 15, 2015. 4.) Chavez family members, clockwise from left: Vanessa, Emma, Hugo and Evver. 5.) Paramedics responding to a report of a woman in labor found the baby’s father had already delivered the impatient infant inside the the family SUV. 6.) From left to right: Hugo Chavez, Vanessa Chavez and Bronson Chavez.