By Angela Hill

Paramedic delivers baby in back of ambulance

Jun 29, 2011 | 11:40 AM

It doesn’t happen often, but every once and a while, paramedics deliver a baby.

It was a fairly routine call that took a Parkland Ambulance crew to the Montreal Lake clinic for a maternity call.

“They said her contractions were about four minutes apart, so we left the clinic not expecting to deliver a baby, but seven minutes later she delivered her baby,” said Erica Stuber, a paramedic with Parkland.

“Everything ran really smoothly, it couldn’t have gone any better. Everybody was healthy, baby was healthy, mom was healthy.”

It was the first time Stuber was involved with a delivery and she said it was exciting.

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The baby boy is about seven pounds and a perfectly healthy, cute little baby, she said.

Paramedics are trained to deliver babies, but it’s something that Parkland Ambulance only sees about six times a year.

“We’re always just hoping that everything is good with the baby, we’re trained to resuscitate them but it can be scary if there is something wrong,” Stuber said.

It’s always better if the baby can be delivered in a hospital, in case there are complications, she said.

When there is a baby to be delivered in the back of the ambulance, it is usually on route to the city from the surrounding area.

“It does happen, especially in rural communities where it’s a little bit futher away to get to a hospital or facility to deliver a baby.”

ahill@panow.com