It wasn’t how they imagined it — but baby Alice wasn’t waiting. Daniel and Rebecca Vandenbrink were driving to the hospital from their Airdrie home when her contractions got intense.
“She kept saying, ‘I’m not going to make it,’ and I was like, ‘No you can make it,” Daniel Vandenbrink said, remembering the high-stress moments in 2016.
“She was adamant, ‘No you need to pull over and call 9-1-1.'”
It was Feb. 27, 2016, and nobody was prepared to deliver a baby on the side of the road on a freezing winter day — so panicked, they called 9-1-1.
“Poor Daniel — when he was on the phone with dispatch, they’re saying, ‘You need a shoelace to tie off the umbilical cord, blankets, towels,'” Rebecca said.
“It was just insane.”
Paramedic Kat Yokom arrived just in time.
“She was like a knight in shining armour,” Rebecca said. “For her to arrive at the scariest moment of our lives.”
“My clearest memory is her on the front seat, feet on the dashboard, doors open — it was minus 30 and the baby was coming,” Yokom said.
“There was yelling some pushing and we got her in the ambulance, where she delivered in a minute or two — she did all the work,” she said.
“I was fortunate to be the one there to meet her.”
Rebecca, Daniel and their daughter Alice were part of an annual event Thursday, where Alberta Health Services reunites babies with the paramedics who helped bring them into the world.
This is the first time the Vandenbrinks are seeing Yokom since that winter night and during their visit, Yokom revealed her own baby surprise — she is now eight months pregnant.
“It’s so sweet, I’m glad our labour and delivery didn’t totally scare her from having another kid,” Rebecca said. “It’s so cool — the circle of life — she got to deliver Alice in the world and she’s growing her own family.”
The one thing Yokom is hoping for is that she’ll make it to hospital in time when she has her own child.
“I would have to say that’s any pregnant paramedic’s nightmare — to encounter their colleagues in any respect,” Yokom said.
“But we take care of each other and if push came to shove, I would be grateful for any help that shows up.”