Not even labor contractions could keep a woman from driving to meet her husband as the guardsman returned home from Iraq.
Johana Ortiz went into labor hours before her husband's plane landed at Camp Douglas, but she defied her doctors orders and made the nearly three-hour trip from Milwaukee.
She said she really wanted her husband to be there for the birth. He had missed her pregnancy because of his deployment to Iraq, she said.
When the plane with about 300 soldiers landed last week, commanders directed U.S. Army Spc. Melvin Ortiz to leave the aircraft first. He sprinted to the hangar, hugged his wife and they hopped into a sports utility vehicle.
Their next destination: A suburban Milwaukee hospital.
Shortly after, the couple welcomed Eduardo, their newborn son.