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by TONY SCLAFANI
FDNY Lt. John Leonard doesn't know Spanish - but he didn't need an interpreter yesterday to understand that Carmen Rosa needed his help.
As Rosa screamed in Spanish in his ear, the 24-year Fire Department veteran helped deliver her eighth child in her Bronx apartment.
It was just after 11 a.m. when firefighters were called to Rosa's Mott Haven flat and found the 35-year-old mom-to-be pacing, unable to sit or catch her breath.
Rescuers were going to take Rosa out on a stretcher, but her water broke and the painful contractions were only 40 seconds apart. The baby's head started to crown.
As two of Rosa's kids dashed across the small bedroom, Leonard and Firefighter Tom Kelly put Rosa on a floor stretcher, and FDNY Emergency Medical Technicians Tanya Marrero and Joan Hernandez got ready for the birth.
They didn't have to wait long: It was all over in 90 seconds.
"The baby started crying immediately," said Leonard, who helped doctors deliver his own four children, ages 11 to 21. "We knew the baby had a healthy set of lungs."
Marrero, 22, held the girl's head as Leonard used a device to remove fluids from her tiny nose and mouth.
Hernandez, 26, cut the umbilical cord, and the mother and child were taken to Lincoln Hospital in stable condition.
A former deputy sheriff, Leonard said it was his third on-duty delivery - but admitted it doesn't get any easier.
"It's always nerve-racking. You don't want to make a mistake," said Leonard, of Engine 60. "But it makes the day all worthwhile."
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