Ill. paramedic: Delivering baby in ambulance is 'best feeling in the world'

By Hannah Leone
The Beacon-News

AURORA, Ill. — A 21-year-old woman was in labor.

It seemed like a routine dispatch to Aurora Fire Department Paramedic Chris Davison, who was among the first on the scene.

He helped get the woman into a cot and move her to an ambulance. From the home in the 100 block of Grove Street, they started driving toward Rush-Copley Medical Center in Aurora.

After a few minutes, it became clear the baby wasn't going to wait much longer, Davison said. The woman's contractions were becoming more frequent, according to fire officials.

Davison made the call.

"I told my partner we were going to have to stop," Davison said.

The ambulance driver pulled over to the side of the road, for safety.

Five paramedics and firefighters were in the ambulance, and they each took on different roles.

Davison's job, as the charge paramedic, was to deliver the baby.

"I wasn't so much nervous," Davison said. "Just kind of surprised."

He had helped with a delivery once before, about seven years ago, when he was a student in paramedic school.

"It's weird, it all just came back from school," Davison said. "Any of the training we had done or studying we do, it all kind of kicked back in."

Aurora Fire Department ambulances are all equipped with kits specifically for delivering babies, although it's unusual to need them, Davison said.

Davison has no children of his own. In his six years as a paramedic, this was the first time he's witnessed a woman giving birth on the way to the hospital.

"I've had people that have delivered before and after, bit it's rare that it would happen in the middle," he said.

But it did, and at 1:43 p.m. Tuesday, Davison delivered a boy to his mother.

"It was the best feeling in the world," Davison said.

The firefighters assessed the new mother and child. They dried the baby boy, made sure he was warm and gave him to his mother. Then they got back on the road and continued to the hospital.

As of Thursday afternoon, both mother and child were "doing fine," according to a statement from fire officials.

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