Ambulance EMT

Delivers Baby No. 4

By Steve Bigham

Bob Carroll has a basic philosophy when helping an expectant mother give birth.

“You just hold out your hands and let the baby slide in. And don’t drop it,” he explained Monday.

Of course, it’s not really that easy, but leave it to Bob to downplay one of his many heroic deeds as a longtime member of the Newtown Volunteer Ambulance Corps. Bob has been with the corps since 1973.

On Saturday, Bob lent a helping hand in the birth of baby number four in the back of an ambulance just as it arrived at Danbury Hospital. Bob was literally still pulling the newborn out as the backdoors of the ambulance were opened. An emergency room doctor reached for the baby, but Bob reminded her to be patient. He wasn’t done suctioning the little girl’s mouth.

No doubt, this week’s experience brought Bob back to an incident that took place more than 10 years ago when he helped deliver a two-pound baby in the dead of winter.

“That’s one I’ll never forget. The baby was about the size of my hand,” he recalled. “I remember the call came in at 5 am. It was in February and I was at the ambulance garage. I drove over there and I was all alone [with the mother] when the baby arrived. By the time the rest of the help arrived the baby was all wrapped up.”

Bob says he gets great satisfaction out of helping bring a child into the world. Once, while manning an ambulance at a Pop Warner football game, a woman came up to him and said, “You’re the one who helped deliver my baby.”

“Whenever you deliver a baby, you get this adrenaline rush. It seems to be something every EMT would like to do at one time or another.”

Ambulance Corps member Deb Aubin has been to plenty of calls over the years, but she has never actually delivered a baby. It’s something she certainly would not mind doing. Deb was on the scene this past weekend and was about to jump into the back of the ambulance when Bob assured her that the mother would probably make it to the hospital in time. Bob soon discovered that was not the case at all. In fact, for a moment, Sunday’s delivery actually looked perilous.

“It looked pretty bad. It had the symptoms of a true pediatric obstetric emergency in which the placenta presents itself before the baby, which can be fatal; but it turns out it was not that condition,” Mr Carroll explained.

Bob Carroll is quick to point out that he did not do it alone. Tom Hanlon drove the ambulance, while paramedic Mathew Fellows and an EMT trainee were there to lend a helping hand.

No word on whether or not Bob has earned a new nickname down at ambulance corps headquarters. Newtown Police Officer William Hull has, however. His fellow officers now refer to him as “Pops” after his steady hands helped deliver a baby on the night of Thursday, May 17. Arriving at the Maltbie Road home of John and Margaret Keayes just two minutes after receiving the call, Officer Hull entered the house to find the expectant mother on the bathroom floor, the baby’s head already showing. Without hesitation, the 31-year-old officer dropped to his knees and helped welcome little Victoria into the world.

Moments later, Officer Hull radioed the news to headquarters.

“We have a baby girl,” he exclaimed.

Moments later, four members of the Newtown Volunteer Ambulance Corps, Deb Aubin, Ken Apley, Karin Halstead, and Gordon Johnson, arrived on the scene to transport both mother and baby to the hospital.