When Emma Claire Sheridan decided it was time to make her entrance into the world, she couldn’t be bothered with things like ferry schedules.

She was ready. Now.

With her mother, Linda, sprawled in the backseat of a Toyota RAV4 at the Orcas Ferry Landing, Emma drew her first breaths before an anxious audience of emergency responders and family members.

“I was actually a bit relieved (to give birth),” Linda said. “If our midwife cleared us to get on the ferry to go to Island Hospital, it meant at least another two or three hours of labor, and I was just about ready to be done with everything.”

Linda had been experiencing pre-labor contractions for a week, so when she began having a series of contractions at 9 p.m. on Sept. 2, she didn’t think twice about it. Her due date was still a week away.

“I decided to take a bath while my husband, Paul, and my parents, Dave and Sharon Toepke, were having dinner,” Linda said. “The bath didn’t make the contractions go away, as it had before … at that point I had six contractions in half an hour, but I didn’t really believe it was the real thing yet.”

Paul called their Orcas midwife, Melinda Milligan, who was pretty sure it was the real deal. She advised the family to meet her at the ferry landing.

“It was a bit of challenge getting dressed and out the door while having contractions, but with Paul’s and my parents’ help, I eventually got there,” Linda said.

She had eight more contractions during the 20-minute drive to the ferry landing. They arrived at 10:35 p.m., and Melinda performed an exam.

“She told Paul to call for the ambulance, because we were going to have the baby right there,” Linda said.

With Melinda coaching her through the birth, Linda went into labor with a group of EMTs by her side. Dr. Michael Sullivan, Orcas Fire Department’s Medical Control Physician, happened to be in line for the same 10:50 p.m. ferry. Sullivan, who lives in Bellingham, was on Orcas for a training session at the fire department. When he got the call about a birth at the ferry landing, he was just moments away.

“It was a big comfort to have so many capable folks around,” Linda said.

Ferry landing attendent Kirk Troutman said the birth caused quite a scene.

“I stood back from the car and there were some pretty loud cries,” Troutman said. “It was an interesting situation. I kept traffic moving, because everyone wanted to stop and look.”

By 11:15 p.m., Emma was born, weighing in at 7 pounds and 5 ounces. Emergency responders moved mother and daughter to a waiting ambulance. EMT Julie Remington drove them onto the ferry, which was on standby. Once in Anacortes, Dr. Sullivan helped the family settle in at Island Hospital, where they spent most of Labor Day weekend being observed.

“Linda is tough,” Paul said. “Everyone we have told this story to says, ‘yes, of course this would be Linda’s birth story.’”

Orcas Fire division chief Patrick Shepler says this may be the first baby born at the ferry landing.

“When I first moved here, I delivered a baby at someone’s house, and I know there have been a number of births on the island,” he said. “But I don’t think it’s happened before in the ferry line … it sounds like it’s a first.”

Linda says Emma was the second child Milligan delivered in a vehicle over the course of her long career as a mid-wife.

“The first one she delivered in a car was in front of a hospital – not the ferry line,” Linda said.

Linda, who is coordinator of the Orcas Rec Program, is taking time off work to be with Emma. Paul is the director of Four Winds – Westward Ho camp.

Linda will go back to work for a few days in October, and then Orcas Rec is closing on Nov. 1.

If funding for Orcas Rec is provided by the parks and rec district levy, which is on the November ballot, then she may be back at the helm this winter. But for now, she is reveling in her new responsibilities.

“I definitely love being a mom,” Linda said. “She gets cuter every day. She is getting bigger and stronger and she is really healthy. We are both just really excited to be parents.”