'Make Sure & Catch It': Dispatcher Helps Dad Deliver Baby In The Car
CENTENNIAL, Colo. (CBS4) - A mother and newborn baby in Centennial are doing well after giving birth in a parking lot.
Mom and dad fortunately had help from a 911 dispatcher.
Saul Flores and Adrianna Alvarez aren't new parents. They already had three kids when it was time to go to the hospital to welcome number four.
"Contractions started around 8 a.m. We started going to the hospital. My water broke in the car," Alvarez said.
That's when Saul knew he was in for a wild ride.
"I was actually in the second lane, so I turned as fast as I can to turn into that parking lot," he said. "I had called her mom and she had told me that you know if a woman says that they're not going to make it, call 911. So that's the first thing that I did."
In a building across town, Angie Schell, the lead dispatcher for South Metro Fire picked up her phone.
"I got a call from a gentleman who said that they had just pulled over, and he thought his wife was going into labor," Schell said.
So she pulled up her scripts to walk him through the birthing process.
"I'm trying to catch up and get to where she was - the baby was coming faster than I could do it," she said.
Before either of them knew it, the baby started coming. Flores was prepared to do his best and Schell was ready to walk him through delivering his son.
"She was telling me 'You know once the baby comes out make sure and catch it,'" he said. "I'm not medically trained for all that!"
Just in the nick of time, help arrived. An ambulance showed up to deliver the baby.
"I was like 'Thank God!'" Flores said.
Baby Jaden was welcomed into this world coincidentally at 9:11 a .m. with the help of 911 dispatcher Schell.
She says the other dispatchers were excited. She says they don't get too many positive calls at 911 dispatch so this was a much welcomed change of pace.
"We were celebrating here and high-fiving each other here," she said.
For Flores, it may have been just a little too much excitement. On the 911 tape, after all was said and done he can be heard telling the paramedics, "I was freaking out!"
Michael Abeyta is a 4th generation Coloradan and a Multimedia Journalist for CBS4. His stories can be seen on CBS4 News at 5 & 6. He is on Twitter! Follow him @AbeytaCBS4.