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Des Moines responders assist emergency home birth; family thanks 911 dispatcher
Summary
A Des Moines family and emergency responders credited the Des Moines Fire Department and a 911 dispatcher for help after a woman delivered a baby at home on Sept. 21, according to a recorded 911 call and on-scene accounts.
A Des Moines family and emergency responders said the Des Moines Fire Department and a 911 dispatcher helped after a woman gave birth at home on Sept. 21, according to a recorded 911 call and participants' accounts.
The baby girl, identified by the parents as Vivian, was born at home and later transported by ambulance to a hospital. The parents said she weighed 7 pounds, 2 ounces and measured 18.5 inches at birth.
The call began when the father identified himself as Taylor and told the dispatcher his wife, Adrianna, was in labor. "Yeah. I'm Taylor. This is my wife, Adrianna, and this is our new baby girl, Vivian," Taylor said on the recording. He described initially thinking they had time to get to the hospital and then quickly realizing delivery was imminent. "And, 20 minutes, she tells me, I don't think we're gonna make it to the hospital," he said.
A responder who described arriving on scene said dispatch notes marked the call as an obstetric problem and that the crew saw "delivery was imminent" on their screens. The responder recounted moving toward the home, seeing the baby's head crowning and assisting in the delivery before other medics reached the scene. "I was holding most of her before the paramedics show up," the responder said.
Taylor praised the 911 dispatcher, identified in his remarks as Lindsay, saying the dispatcher’s instructions helped him avoid freezing during the emergency. "If I wouldn't had Lindsay on the line, I probably would have froze up," he said. After the delivery the family rode in the ambulance to the hospital to complete paperwork and seek routine postnatal care.
The family and responders described the outcome as positive: the baby was delivered, the mother and child were stable at the time they were transported, and the family expressed gratitude for the help from 911 and the Des Moines Fire Department.
No policy changes, official hospital statements, or departmental reviews were mentioned in the recording or the accounts provided. The participants did not provide a last name for the parents or the responder in the excerpts provided.
The family said they plan to be better prepared in the future. "I would not do it again. Next time, we'll have a bag ready to go," Taylor said.
