Firefighters reunite with mother, baby they helped deliver in New Bedford

NEW BEDFORD, Mass. (WLNE) — New Bedford firefighters helped bring a healthy baby girl into the world earlier this month, and the mom, her baby, and those firefighters were reunited on Tuesday.

According to the New Bedford fire chief, the department does two to three out-of-hospital deliveries a year.

In this instance, Station 5 Engine 5 got a call for a woman in active labor at a home on Acushnet Avenue.

The unit arrived on the scene quickly, which firefighters said was critical for the health and well-being of both the mother and the baby.

“I look at them more like gifts from god because that’s what they were for me that night,” said Kelly Medeiros, mother of the newborn child. “They came in and they were just so quick and they kept so calm.”

Kelly re-introduced her baby girl Laiana to New Bedford firefighters on Tuesday.

“I wanted to find you because that was a scary experience and I remembered you out of everybody,” Kelly said to firefighter Tony Szklany. “I was like, I want to find the one that sat on the toilet holding my hand while I was shaking uncontrollably on the floor.”

“I could tell that she was having a hard time calming down and wanted to be with her baby,” Szklany said. “But we had things that we had to take care of first before we could do that.”

Kelly said she went to the hospital earlier but was sent home after they told her she was not in active labor.

Shortly before 1 a.m., her water broke, 9-1-1 was called, and firefighters arrived to baby Laiana almost delivered.

“It was tight quarters in the bathroom, so we did the best we could,” said Lt. Eric Hartford. “Firefighter Szklany tended to the mother and I cut the umbilical cord and began care.”

In that moment, Kelly says there was only one thing on her mind.

“My first thought was ‘is my baby ok,'” she said. “And then everything else after that was just a blur.”

Laiana was born at 12:51 p.m. on April 6th, weighing 8 pounds 10 ounces.

An at-home birth was not what Kelly planned for, but she was grateful to the crew of Engine 5 for arriving as quickly as they did.

“I was so grateful they got there so fast,” she said. “As soon as I heard that they were there I was like ‘okay we’re good now, we have people that know what they’re doing and they’re going to take my baby and make sure she’s okay and make sure I’m okay.'”

Once paramedics were there, they brought Kelly and Laiana to the hospital.

Szklany said for first responders, there is nothing that compares to delivering a baby.

“It was nice to see that everyone’s healthy and things all worked out,” he said. “We deal with a lot of negative stuff everyday and it’s nice to see something like that that turns out good.”

The crew of Engine 5 told ABC 6 News that these are the moments they train for, and that training took over the moment they arrived on scene.