The parents of a baby girl got a surprise when the child was born as they drove down El Camino Real in Palo Alto on Tuesday afternoon, Palo Alto Fire Battalion Chief Doug Conn said.

Fire personnel were called to the scene of the birth at 3:57 p.m. after the parents, who were driving to a nearby hospital, stopped their car at the curb near Maybell Avenue and El Camino because the baby was about to be delivered. The father flagged down a passerby who called 9-1-1.

The baby was born before paramedics arrived, Conn said. Emergency personnel checked the mother and child. Both were doing well and were transported to a local hospital. The girl is the couple's second child, he said.

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