AFTER MORE than 10 years with the United Parcel Service, Ken Butler was on the receiving end of the best special delivery of his life last month.
His wife, Wendy, knew she was in labor in the early hours of Oct. 29. Her third child, a boy, was due to arrive on Halloween.
"She actually told me not to go to work," Ken Butler said. "This was like at 4 [o'clock] in the morning. But she said it would probably come later on that evening."
The Butlers, who live in North Laurel, had had false alarms and 15- to 20-hour labors with daughter Peyton, 4, and son Ryan, 16 months. They thought they had plenty of time.
"I guess I was just having regular contractions," Wendy Butler said. "It wasn't as painful as it was with my other son. That's why I thought I had some time. I thought I would deliver at 8 at night - that was the plan."
But by 2 p.m., her contractions were more severe.
"I went in and told my husband that [the contractions] were starting to get closer together," she said. "I guess I switched phases or something."
Ken Butler collected the kids, buckled them into the car for the trip to Holy Cross Hospital in Silver Spring, and went back into the house to get his wife.
"When he came back, I had the last contraction and my water broke," Wendy Butler said. "I just laid on the floor, and I told him we weren't going to make it. So he called 911."
"Everything happened so fast," Ken Butler said. "I'm telling her not to push, not to push. I ran and grabbed the phone and dialed the operator."
"He told me not to push," Wendy Butler recalled. "'Don't push' is not anything a pregnant woman wants to hear."
Senior dispatcher Maureen Childress answered the 911 call, and rescue personnel were immediately sent to the Butlers' home.
"When he called, he said, 'My wife's having a baby,'" Childress said. "He told me about the kids in the car. Then he said, 'Oh my God, the head's coming out now.' The head was delivered within a few seconds of him calling. So at this point, you have to give instructions to get something to wipe away the nose and the mouth so the baby can get his first breath."
One more push, and 7-pound 5-ounce Christian Butler was in his father's arms.
"He kept telling me that the baby didn't sound quite right. He sounded congested," Childress said. "So we decided to do two rescue breaths, just to be on the safe side. And almost immediately, after he did that, we had the full clear cry that we wanted."
Sensing that Ken Butler was overwhelmed and knowing that help was on the way, Childress did not ask him to cut the umbilical cord.
"He had to focus on so many things," Childress said. "He mentioned again the kids in the car. I told him I had a police officer on the way. I was trying to reassure him. He knew he couldn't leave."
Paramedics and police arrived within minutes of the 911 call. They told Ken Butler that his family was doing just fine.
"At that point, that's when Ken seemed a little bit in shock," Childress said. "That's what most people do. They wait until someone else takes over and then they kind of fall apart a little bit."
Childress remembers telling Ken Butler it was OK to hang up the phone.
"I said, 'Go kiss your wife,'" Childress said. "I told him he did a great job. I asked him, 'Can you believe you delivered your own baby?'"
"I was just worried about my children and my wife," Ken Butler said. "I think anyone would have done the same thing. The real hero is the lady who was on the phone. I don't know what I would have done without someone to tell me what to do."
Ken Butler, a delivery driver for UPS, called his employer with the good news after the family arrived at Howard County General Hospital. "And I guess he told them [Christian] was born at home, and he wouldn't be back for a week," Wendy Butler said.
She told her husband: "You can't go a day without delivering something, can you?"
Grand celebration
Bethel Assembly of God will honor Pastors E. Don Cox and Rose Marie Cox for their 20 years of church service and leadership Sunday. A program highlighting their contributions will be presented during the 10:30 a.m. service at the church, 9001 Vollmerhausen Road, Savage.
A "grand celebration" potluck dinner in the couple's honor will begin at 1 p.m.
Church secretary Teenie Carter said the Coxes were instrumental in directing construction of the new church building, which opened in October 1999.
The Coxes founded Bethel Christian Academy, which opened in Savage in 1984. The school enrolls 346 pupils in first through eighth grades.
Information: Teenie Carter, 301-498-3344.
Champion spellers
Bollman Bridge Elementary School pupils Emilio Henderson and Daniel Pfister won the fifth-grade spelling bee Tuesday.
Ninety-seven children participated in the two-day contest; the field was narrowed to 21 finalists and two champion spellers. Competitors were eliminated - one misspelled word a time - by "mayonnaise" and "architecture," among others.
Emilio's winning word was "introduction," and for Daniel it was "lightning."
Congratulations to both boys for spelling their way to the head of the class.