A Calgary family is praising first responders who helped deliver their baby boy who arrived five weeks early at their southeast Calgary home last week.
Megan Claxton and her fiancé Taylor Smyth were expecting their second child to be born in the new year. Those plans changed when Megan went into labour early Tuesday morning at just 35 weeks along.
“Around four, four in the morning I was like, ‘OK, I think something is happening,’” said Claxton.
“I packed a bag, but by the time I finished packing the bag about a half an hour later I was like, ‘I’m not going anywhere,’” she added.
The couple called 911 around 4:30 a.m. With emergency crews on the way, operators talked to Smyth about how to deliver the baby in case they didn’t arrive on time; a task he says he was ready for.
“(I) got the towels out and for a couple of minutes there I thought I was gonna have to do it,” he said. “Part of me, I think I was still a little bit asleep so I don’t know if I realized exactly what was going on but it was a pretty exciting situation,” he said.
Get weekly health news
Receive the latest medical news and health information delivered to you every Sunday.
Calgary Fire and Calgary EMS arrived at the Seton neighbourhood home just minutes after the call. They helped deliver the six-pound baby boy, named Hayes, at 5:32 a.m., just 90 minutes after Megan went into labour.
“They helped deliver the baby safely, thank goodness; (they) made a scary stressful situation much less stressful, less scary,” Claxton said.
“I didn’t get a chance to thank them fully and every single one of them did an awesome job,” Smyth added.
In a statement, Calgary EMS told Global News they attend about 25 out-of-hospital births every year.
“Alberta Health Services, EMS supports moms with out-of-hospital births approximately 20-25 times a year in Calgary. Paramedics are trained in emergency childbirth and post-natal care and can provide all necessary immediate care to mom and the newborn before transporting safely to hospital or leaving in care of the midwife team at home.”
The premature birth wasn’t a complete shock for the couple – their now two-year-old daughter Tala was also born well before her due date.
Hayes is now in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) in hospital where he is being monitored; he’s not able to keep his oxygen levels high enough while he’s asleep.
The family hopes he’ll be home by Christmas morning.
“It would just be a Christmas miracle,” Claxton said.
© 2024 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.