A Michigan couple unexpectedly delivered their third child in their home’s driveway — with help from a 911 dispatcher.
Eaton County 911 shared on Facebook that dispatcher Ashley Wonnacott helped play “a crucial role” in helping Jill and Brenden Plemmons welcome the baby girl when she came a bit too early on Tuesday, Dec. 17.
“We would have not been able to do it without her,” Jill told CNN.
The couple shared in a dispatch call obtained by WILX-TV that they had been in their car in the driveway ready to head to the hospital when Jill began giving birth. The mom could be heard telling the dispatcher to “hurry” in sending an ambulance because she was “delivering a baby.”
She noted at the beginning of the approximately 10-minute call that she had been having contractions and “some bleeding.” Her husband shortly joined in on the call, as Wonnacott attempted to calm the mother down.
“Try to not panic. We’re going to help you okay?” the dispatcher told Jill, adding that she would help “talk” them through the birth before the ambulance arrived.
She told the couple to get “dry towels, small blankets” and a “clean string.” Within a few minutes, Brenden could be heard shouting, “Oh my God, the baby’s here. The baby’s here.”
“Is it head first?, Wonnacott asked, to which the dad responded, “Head first yep it came out. It’s out.”
The dispatcher told the couple to “keep the baby level with her bottom” and to “gently wipe off the baby’s mouth and nose” and then “dry the baby off with the clean towel.” She also told the parents to “watch the baby closely” until the ambulance arrived, which it did come at the end of the call.
After the family received some help from paramedics, they were able to relax with their new daughter, which they named Amelia, at the hospital. Jill told CNN that the whole experience had her adrenaline “going.”
“I’m still kind of processing all of it,” Brenden added. “Everything just happened so quick. I didn’t even have an option whether to do it or not, you know?”
However, he noted that it was “an amazing feeling” getting to help his wife give birth in their driveway, saying he “never thought I’d do something like that.”
Wonnacott told CNN that she was happy to help the couple with the birth.
“It can be tricky, especially with something you’ve never done before, but we are trained, and that helps a lot,” she explained. “Mom was cool to work with. She was pretty calm [and] trusting.”
