BELFAST, Maine — Emergency Dispatcher Stephanie Lunt cuddled baby Abigaille Jade Johnston in her arms Thursday afternoon at the beginning of her shift at the Waldo County Regional Communications Center.
It was the first time she had seen or held the wide-eyed, pink-faced girl — but not the first time she had heard her. Lunt was present in a special way for Abigaille’s birth, coaching her nervous father over the telephone at 3 a.m. Aug. 21 as he helped his girlfriend deliver the baby alone in their Burnham home.
Although there were some tense moments for dad Derek Johnston and mom Stacey Sprague, both 27, during the quick home birth, Lunt knew they had made it safely when she heard Abigaille’s first cry over the telephone.
“Derek did a great job,” she said. “He sounded pretty nervous and scared, but he did great.”
It was the first time in many years that a Waldo County emergency dispatcher had helped deliver a baby over the phone, according to Director Owen Smith, and he wanted to mark the occasion by inviting the family to the center and giving them a certificate and baby present.
His dispatchers have a protocol for every type of medical emergency, from bee stings to heart attacks to childbirth, and when people call for help the dispatchers calmly take them through the steps, one by one, until emergency medical responders are able to arrive at the address.
But Abigaille wanted out, and wouldn’t wait for the Unity Ambulance before making her debut in the world.
“We were able to complete the protocol,” Smith said with some satisfaction about Abigaille’s birth. “It was our first. We’ve come close in the past, but the ambulance always got there and stole our thunder.”
Smith said that when he arrived at work later in the morning, Lunt was “flying high” after her exhilarating 911 call.
“It gets no better than this. It really doesn’t,” he said.
According to Stacey Sprague, on the day leading up to her first baby’s birth, she was suffering from stomach discomfort. She had gone to work that day as usual at United Technologies Corporation in Pittsfield, but the ladies at work talked her into going to a hospital. Sprague did not believe the baby was coming so soon, since her due date was Sept. 5. Hospital staff checked her out and sent her home.
“She was in labor, but she didn’t know she was,” Johnston said.
His stoic girlfriend spent the evening drinking lots of water and trying to stick out the stomach contractions, which were coming faster and faster.
She went to sleep and woke up in the middle of the night, bleeding. She was scared. Johnston got his two other boys in the truck, ready to take the family to the hospital for the birth, but by that time, Sprague could feel the baby’s head begin to emerge.
“We’re definitely not going to make it to the hospital,” she remembered telling Johnston.
He called 911, and Lunt answered.
“I heard there was a lot of blood,” the calm-voiced dispatcher said. “It was pretty intense. I was excited and scared.”
But Lunt maintained her composure, telling Johnston to get Sprague from the bathroom to the living room floor and make her comfortable. The dispatcher told him to get towels to wrap the baby in and he jumped to gather up “every towel in the house,” Sprague said Thursday.
Then Lunt helped Johnston coach Sprague through her contractions, and less than 15 minutes after placing the 911 call, the 5-pound, 15-ounce baby was born. At first Abigaille was quiet, but when she opened her mouth and let out a thin wail, Lunt was relieved, and delighted.
“Congratulations,” she said to Johnston during the 911 call. “It’s definitely one for the baby book.”
Lunt told him to tie off the umbilical cord with his shoelace, and he did that, too.
“I thought I was dreaming,” Johnston said. “I can’t even explain it.”
“Now you’ll never forget,” Sprague replied. “I think it’s amazing that he’s actually the one who got to deliver her.”
Even though the birth didn’t happen exactly as the family had expected, they are ecstatic with the safe results, and their healthy daughter, who went to the hospital right after the birth to be examined. Everything was fine.
“It was a good experience,” Lunt said.
Johnston said that while it was the first time he had ever delivered a baby at home, he wouldn’t be adverse to giving it another try — with one condition.
“Only if Stephanie was on the other end of the phone,” he said.
Congrats to parents, me & my husband did this 18 years ago also, similar story, with a 9.10 oz baby boy!
Congratulations to parents, dispatcher, and baby. Mother Nature rules!
It is SO nice to hear something good int he news! Congrats to you both!!
Is it more difficult for a human to give birth than it is for an animal? One could easily think so by all of the hullaballo given in the media.
Why don’t you go give it a try and then get back to us.
Spoken by a REAL man who will never have to find out how difficult it is.
I think I remember something about the size of the human brain making human childbirth more difficult. But maybe the size of the brain isn’t a factor in all cases!
Maybe you should try this: Take your upper lip and pull it up OVER your head and down to the back of your neck.Now take your lower lip and wrap it down over your chin and then back up around your ears.Now take a basketball and tuck in your backside, hold it in for 12 hours or so and then push it out. Have at it and let us know how easy it went with a big smile on your face.
I remember Clair Huxtable using a similar description some years ago…
Great! Great outcome. Kudos to Stephanie Lunt & the 911 protocols.
Abigaille Jade will have quite the story to tell down the road.
Congrats to all.
Only because humans have been taught that birthing is a medical emergency rather than just another part of life.
Go look up the mortality rate before modern medicine
For that matter a glance at 3rd world countries mortality rate today will give you a small glance.
But for the lazy ones I went ahead and did it for you.
In Liverpool England, 1899, around 135 newborns out of 1000 would die in upper class neighborhoods. Working class districts 275 infant deaths per 1000 , and slums 510 infant deaths per 1000 – more then HALF.
With all of our emphasis on prenatal care, labor monitoring and extensive intervention in labor and delivery, the US rates 49th in neonatal mortality out of 222 countries. Even our neighbor Canada is ahead of us.
In many developed countries such as Netherlands, 19th in infant mortality, home birth is the norm not the exception.
While medical intervention is necessary in some instances, most women can birth their babies just fine but they have been indoctrinated to believe they have to have a Dr., epidurals and very often C sections. With that said, there are also times in the animal world where intervention is needed but it isn’t the norm and it shouldn’t be the norm for humans.
So your saying that woman that have c sections should have just stayed home?
My guess is those woman that need c sections are the ones whom before modern medicine became a statistic.
The operative word in your statement is need. The high number of C sections in the US is an additional controversy but a lot are related to unnecessary medical intervention.
With all of our emphasis on prenatal care, labor monitoring and extensive intervention in labor and delivery, the US rates 49th in neonatal mortality out of 222 countries. Even our neighbor Canada is ahead of us.
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much of the neonatal mortaliy is due to FAS…also drug-addicted women giving birth to babies who are drug-dependent. Most women who give birth at home with a midwife or doula (or both) are a bit more educated and not so easily “influenced” by “Big Med” or “Big Pharma”. Of course a midwife or doula would certainly ensure appropriate medical intervention should Mom or baby experience any unforseen difficulties.
Congratulations to all and welcome to baby!
the headline says: “Belfast dad…”
but end of second paragraph states “..Burnham home…”
Seems they met w/the dispatcher in Belfast, but live in Burnham, right?
Good job Dad, happy everyone is well and healthy. Now man-up and marry your child’s mother.
Congrats to the new parents. Welcome, Baby Abigaille!! Good Job, Dad and Mom.
When I had my son, I had been in labor for hours. The very disagreeable OB was disgusted that it was taking so long. She left to go do rounds, and the nurse had me change my position. Two pushes later, my husband caught our son as he came into the world. I wanted my husband’s name on the birth cert as the attending but the hospital didn’t allow it. My son was twenty minutes old by the time the OB showed up. By then a resident was sewing me up.