During Irma, woman delivers her own baby
Hurricane’s winds kept help from getting to her
Adapted from a story by Kristine Phillips.
At 3:23 a.m. Sunday, a woman told a dispatcher that she was in labor. The call came in from Little Haiti neighborhood, just outside of downtown Miami.
At the same time, Hurricane Irma was making its way to the Florida Keys as a Category 4 storm. Strong winds prevented paramedics and fire crews from responding to dozens of emergency calls.
The woman called again at 5:35 a.m. She was about to give birth.
Giving birth during a storm
A conference call was convened between the woman and the emergency crews who couldn’t get to her. Paramedics, a dispatcher and a doctor from Jackson Memorial Hospital in Miami all walked her through her own childbirth — including delivering the placenta and cutting the umbilical cord. The dispatcher told her how to tie it off, Assistant Fire Chief Eloy Garcia told the Miami Herald.
“Baby came out good, healthy,” Gomez said. “The woman was doing good, too.”
As soon as it was safe for crews to travel, the woman and her baby girl were taken to the hospital Sunday morning. Authorities are not releasing the woman’s name. Gomez, who wasn’t in the conference call, said he does not know if the woman was with someone while she was giving birth at home or how long the entire call took.
Emergency calls
- The fire department received more than 430 calls from 7 a.m. Saturday to 7 a.m. Sunday, Gomez said.
- Crews were able to respond to every emergency incident until about midnight, when Gomez said they had to make judgment calls on what was too dangerous.
- The fire department did not respond to 81 fire calls, including reports of downed wires and automatic alarms, and was able to get to only one house fire.
- The agency received 41 medical calls, but was able to transport only three people to the hospital, including a child with a fever and a man who was bleeding heavily because of a deep cut on his arm, Gomez said.
Irma weakens to tropical storm
Irma has been downgraded from a hurricane to a tropical storm since Monday morning. It continues to head north of Tampa with hurricane-force winds that keep battering Florida.
One thing is certain: a mother and her newborn rest safely inside Jackson Hospital.
