SCES got an emergency call on Wednesday, March 9, from a couple on Highway 21 who were on their way to the hospital to have their third child when the baby decided it was coming there and now.
“We left for the hospital and had consulted with my midwife and dula and they said told me to relax and have a bath and by the time I got out of the bath, I realized I needed to leave,” explained Kelsea Mabuchi, who lives in Heritage Hills. “We got to the car and by the time we got out of our neighbourhood, my water had broke. We were waiting to turn on to Highway 21 and turned onto Highway 21 and I was like, nope we’re not going to make it. We made it just about to the Yellowhead and pulled over.”
The mother called 911 and the operator asked her husband, Taiki Mabuchi, questions and talked him through it until Emergency Services arrived.
“They came to the side of the door and somehow convinced me to get on a stretcher, and I got on the stretcher, got in the back of the ambulance and she was born a couple minutes later,” the mother said.
Lee Dombrosky, a firefighter and advanced care paramedic for SCES who helped with the birth, said they rushed to the scene.
“We ended up helping with the field delivery and everything was good. Mom and baby were healthy and transported to hospital for a check-up after,” explained Dombrosky.
The SCES member said it was definitely a first for him on the job.
“There is a wide-variety of calls we go to. Through schooling, we do have a labour and delivery rotation we do through training where we follow the nurses and doctors around in hospital,” Dombrosky said, adding he had a little experience with delivering a baby. “This was the first time in the field I delivered in an ambulance before we arrived at the hospital.”