Fort Drum soldier delivers his own son

FORT DRUM — He may not be running in and out of phone booths or reporting for the Daily Planet anytime soon, but newborn Kal-El Williams has an origin befitting someone named after the comic book hero Superman: He was delivered by his father, Sgt. 1st Class Antwan M. Williams, on the side of the road in Carthage the night of Feb. 2.

Sgt. Williams had been driving his wife, Andrea A. Williams, to Carthage Area Hospital from their home on Fort Drum.

While Mrs. Williams had felt some contractions previously, she called it a normal day to that point, and even had gone to work at the post’s Education Center, where she is a counselor. However, her contractions began to speed up rapidly around 9:30 p.m., at which point she knew the baby was coming.

As the Williamses hurried down Route 26 toward the hospital in their Ford Expedition, the contractions came even faster. About 3½ miles from the hospital, Mrs. Williams told her husband that her water had broken, and the baby’s head had emerged. At that point, he pulled over, turned on the SUV’s hazard lights and rushed around the vehicle to his wife’s seat on the passenger side.

“I put my hand under his head, and lifted him up just a little bit, and he shot right out,” Sgt. Williams said Friday. “He jumped out like Superman.”

Wrapping up the baby in a towel left on the dashboard, Sgt. Williams, a member of the post’s MEDDAC unit, placed the baby on his wife’s chest. He then tied off the umbilical cord using a shoelace from the Nike Air Max sneakers he was wearing that night.

Born at 11:06 p.m., Kal-El was a healthy 8 pounds, 7 ounces.

While Superman often was referred to in the comic books by his alter-ego, Clark Kent, his original name was Kal-El, which he received on the planet of Krypton before coming to Earth.

The Williamses had talked previously about their fondness for the name if they ever were to have a boy, but they had been sure they weren’t having any more children. The Georgia natives, who have been married for 13 years, have three daughters: Brooklyn, 13, Jazzlyn, 10, and Londyn, 2.

“We’re not picking any more names,” Mrs. Williams joked Friday.

Mrs. Williams said she was proud of her husband’s ability to stay calm during the delivery. She said that while they were getting ready to leave for the hospital, he had run around like “a chicken with his head cut off.” That changed when the pair pulled to the side of the road.

“He didn’t panic. ... It was something you’d see out of ‘MacGyver.’ It was on cue; he knew what to do,” Mrs. Williams said. “I’ve never seen that side of him.”

Sgt. Williams said he considered the delivery “one of my proudest moments,” but said he might embellish the story in the future. “I will change it up a little bit, and tell him he was born in a blizzard and stuff like that,” he said.

Mrs. Williams, who said she grew up in a house with girls and is raising three daughters, called having a son a new experience.

Looking at his wife, Mr. Williams smiled and lowered his voice. “Don’t worry. ... I got it,” he said.