Ottawa paramedics help deliver baby girl at roadside

Ottawa Paramedic helps with roadside delivery A paramedic helped bring a healthy baby girl into the world after her mother went into delivery roadside. CTV’s Shaun Vardon reports.

An Ottawa paramedic team helped a local mom deliver her new baby girl Monday morning after it became obvious she wasn't going to make it to the hospital on time.

The mother, a woman in her 30s, was experiencing contractions at around 5:30 a.m. She and her partner later began the 30-minute drive to the hospital. The baby, however, wasn't going to wait and while the couple was just two minutes from their destination, they had to pull over to the side of the road.

They called 911, and Gaelen, an ambulance communications officer, gave instructions until paramedics Paul and Chris arrived on scene.

The mother was ushered into the warm ambulance. She gave birth to a healthy baby girl at around 7:15 a.m. Both were given all necessary post-natal care before being taken to the hospital, where they are doing fine.

“While it was an unexpected way for things to happen, we are so thrilled to have our baby girl here and look forward to sharing this story with her for years to come,” the baby’s father JK Maloney said in an email to CTV News on Monday. “We are so thankful to have had the 911 dispatcher stay with us on the phone and we felt a sense of relief once the paramedics arrived.

“We want to thank all those involved this morning, especially the paramedics who delivered our daughter and the 911 dispatcher who helped us navigate through it all.”

The call was the paramedic team’s first of the day.

“It’s the best call,” said Paul Ensom, one of the paramedics. “A lot of the calls we do, the best case scenario is that nobody dies. On a call like this there is a new life and a happy family, so we really like doing calls like these.”

The Ottawa Paramedic Service awards stork pins to paramedics who help deliver babies. In this case, Gaelen, Paul and Chris all received pins.

- with files from Shaun Vardon, CTV News Ottawa