A St. Albert firefighter/paramedic had an unusual couple of calls in the month of May. Jay Howells helped deliver two babies at home within seven days.
“You’re always a little bit surprised,” said Howells, who works with the City of St. Albert Fire Department.
“We all train for it here with the City of St. Albert Fire Department, so we’re all prepared to mitigate those emergencies.”
“But yes, it certainly is a little surprising when you come into a residence and mom is that close to delivering.”
On May 2, Howells was on shift when his crew was called to a home where a woman was in labour. She was planning on having a home birth, but the doula was running late.
“When we arrived, she certainly was in hard labour. The delivery was going to be sooner rather than later. So we just assisted. The doula did show up prior to the child being born.”
Then, on May 9, Howells attended another home where a woman was in labour. In this case, the woman had been sent home from the hospital to wait for her labour to progress.
“When she did progress, it came very fast, so they called us.”
The woman’s husband led Howells down the hall to the bathroom where she was in labour.
“When I rounded the corner, it was pretty evident that baby was going to be born immediately.”
“I reassured her a little bit, convinced her that we needed to push, and within three minutes after our arrival, baby boy was born (on the bathroom floor).”
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Howells has been a paramedic for 20 years. He’s worked in isolated communities up north as well as for the City of Edmonton.
In his career, he estimates he’s delivered about a dozen babies, but said it’s “luck of the draw.”
“There was another fellow on the call who’d been doing this 20 years, same as myself, and he said he’d never done a home delivery before.”
Eleven years ago, Howells unexpectedly delivered his own son on his bathroom floor in Morinville.
Howells’ wife was sent home from hospital to wait for labour to progress, but once it did, it came quickly.
“I thought when my wife called out, we would be going into the hospital but she’s kind of saying: ‘No, you need to come in here because baby is coming right now.’ Shortly after that, my son Jack was born.”
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Howells said his son enjoys hearing his unplanned delivery story.
“He finds it quite funny because I think he’s the only boy in his school that was born on the bathroom floor.”
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