Angela Windt(BERKELEY HEIGHTS, N.J.) — One New Jersey woman gave birth two weeks early in her own home after not being able to make it to the hospital in time, but what made the unique delivery even more unusual was who delivered the newborn: a teenage EMT.
“I was a bit nervous because I have never delivered a baby before, but I was confident in my training and my crew,” Nicole Segalini, 18, an EMT with the Berkeley Heights Volunteer Rescue Squad, told ABC News. “I wasn’t scared, but I was definitely amazed at what we were doing.”
When mom Angela Windt, of Berkeley Heights, knew she wasn’t going to make it to the hospital, her husband, Paul, dialed 911.
“I was getting up out of bed to change to go to the hospital and my contractions started going and I felt her and knew this is not good,” Windt recalled of the harrowing experience on March 10. “I made it halfway across the bedroom floor and looked at my husband and said, ‘We’re not going to make it.’ He laid me down on the floor and got some towels down. I said, ‘Call 911,’ and he was cool as a cucumber. That was the great part.”
Luckily, the volunteer rescue squad arrived within five minutes of the call for a smooth, safe delivery.
“They started to buckle me into the stretcher to take me to the hospital and I reached down to unbuckle the ankle things and said, ‘Oh no, you can’t. She’s coming,’” the mom explained. “They looked down and right then she crowned and they said, ‘This baby is coming right now.’”
Segalini acted as “the catcher” as the rest of their team coached and assisted her through the birth.
“This wasn’t a one-person job,” the humble teen said of the incredible learning opportunity. “I was lucky to have the opportunity to catch, but this was a job built around teamwork.”
Baby Ava Sharon was born with 30 minutes of Windt’s water breaking.
Mom and baby are both healthy and happy.
“She’s doing great. She’s doing really well,” Windt said of her new bundle of joy.
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