Saturday, January 31, 2009


Found here at The Worcester Telegram:



A little baby in a big, big hurry

FIREFIGHTERS HELP WITH HOME DELIVERY
By Linda Bock TELEGRAM & GAZETTE STAFF

lbock@telegram.com

WORCESTER — Earline Aubuchont watched “Amazing Births,” a show dedicated to dramatic stories of labor and deliveries on the Discovery Health Channel Wednesday and thought, “You only see this on TV.” Now she won’t have to watch that show again, because she had her own “amazing birth” yesterday. “I guess I’m one of those people now,” Ms. Aubuchont said from her maternity ward room at UMass Memorial Medical Center — Memorial Campus yesterday afternoon. “It’s amazing that he’s here.”

She delivered her second child, Arthur John Stebbins Jr., a 6-pound, 19-inch healthy baby boy in less than 30 minutes yesterday morning at her home with the assistance of two paramedics, four firefighters, and police Officer Albert J. Cosenza. Her husband and first-time father, Arthur J. Stebbins, and her 14-year-old daughter, Tricia Aubuchont, lent moral support. Ms. Aubuchont, 38, wasn’t due until Feb. 7, but she thought the baby might arrive during the Super Bowl on Sunday. She said yesterday began as an ordinary day. She woke up in her home at 557 Southwest Cutoff and began to make coffee and to wake her daughter for classes at Worcester Technical High School. Then labor started. Around 8 a.m. her husband called 911. Ms. Aubuchont said her first labor had lasted about three hours. “I knew I deliver quickly, but I never thought I would deliver at home. It was so fast,” Ms. Aubuchont said. “My daughter watched me deliver. I had the baby, and sent her to school. She wanted to go to tell everyone about it. It kind of worked out with the two-hour (weather) delay.” Ms. Aubuchont said the labor and delivery was a total blur. “I was not calm,” she said. “I think the police officer held my hand and helped to keep me calm. He kept reminding me to breathe.” Firefighters who arrived on Engine 15 out of the McKeon Road fire station thought at first they could take Ms. Aubuchont to the hospital to give birth, but were concerned because of her advanced labor. “She couldn’t have made it to the hospital,” Fire Capt. William M. O’Connell said. “She was having strong contractions, and we tried to hold her off until the paramedics arrived.” Capt. O’Connell said he and Firefighter David McAtee and Firefighter Brian Saksa had been in similar situations, but it was a first for Firefighter Jackson Lowbridge, who is a new recruit. “It looked like a pretty healthy boy,” Capt. O’Connell said. “It was textbook.” One of the firefighters drove the ambulance to the hospital on Belmont Street so that Worcester EMS paramedics Rich Nydam and Andrew Joseph could tend to mother and baby. Mr. Nydam said he has been at four “field” births, but it was a first for Mr. Joseph. Mr. Joseph caught the baby after Ms. Aubuchont pushed him out. She gave birth on a couch. “The whole labor — from the time the water broke — was less than 30 minutes,” Mr. Nydam said. “The baby had a nice, strong cry. Babies are born kind of blue, and he pinked up right away. I told her, that’s a keeper.” Mr. Joseph said Ms. Aubuchont did all the work, and he was just happy to help. “I was definitely nervous on the inside,” Mr. Joseph said. He has six years’ experience, three of those years as a medic. “Anytime you encounter a situation for the first time, you get a bit nervous.” “This birth had no complications,” Mr. Joseph said. “It was a beautiful boy.”

1 comment:

Michael Morse said...

Great story, Rod. Thanks for stopping by RP.