In the 20 years the Orsinis have been together, the birth of the couple’s daughter has been the biggest adventure they’ve shared so far.
“Biggest surprise?” asked husband Tony Orsini to his wife Linda.
“Yeah, probably,” she said with a smile.
On the morning of Jan. 24, Linda went into labour at home.
“We were ready to go, the car was ready in the garage with the luggage,” Tony said.
But there was no time for that.
“Nature took over and one thing after the other,” Linda said.
“All the baby books… I tried to remember what they said and said, ‘OK, this is what we need to do.'”
Tony called 911 for an ambulance.
To their surprise, the first responders who arrived were not paramedics but two police officers from St. Leonard’s police station 42.
“It’s the most beautiful call of our careers,” officer Valerie Tremblay said.
On that day, a storm iced over the streets of Montreal, causing chaos for drivers.
“Emergency services were overwhelmed, so there were ambulances,” Tremblay explained.
So as Tremblay and her fellow officer Claude Proulx arrived, Linda was ready.
“As I let go, she jumped in and the baby’s head came out,” Tony said.
Melissa Kayla made her debut within seconds.
“I heard her crying and she’s breathing well, so I figured, ‘OK, we’re gonna be fine,'” the mother explained.
It was clearly not your typical experience.
“It’s not something I would recommend,” Linda said with laughter.
But Linda and Tony are grateful everything turned out well and that Melissa Kayla now has a whole team behind her to keep her safe.
“She shouldn’t have problems at school,” officer Proulx joked while laughing.