Firefighters honored for delivering babies in 2 Middletown homes

Rich Morrett, emergency medical services director at Atrium Medical Center, said Middletown firefighters/paramedics “see death and destruction and what we can’t bring back.”

On Wednesday morning, two medic crews were honored for delivering babies last month.

“Bringing a life in the world is something that needs celebrated,” Morrett told the firefighters. “In that aspect, you not only have one patient, but two you are caring for.”

Dr. Jill Aston, director of Atrium Medical Center’s Level III Emergency Trauma Center and medical director for the Middletown and Monroe fire and EMS departments, called delivering a baby “a high intensity moment and really exciting.”

The 10 firefighters on the two crews received appreciation certificates and either blue or pink stork pins from Aston and Morrett during a ceremony at fire headquarters on Roosevelt Boulevard.

Fire Chief Paul Lolli thanked the firefighters for their “great work” and said “everybody worked as a team.”

On Sept. 1, medics were called to a Middletown residence on a report that a woman, who was 38 weeks pregnant, was having abdominal pains. They were greeted at the front door by her family and told she was in the bathtub, said Kevin Bryant, 24, a Middletown firefighter/paramedic for seven months.

The woman was lying in the tub that was filled with water. Firefighter Mike Jones let some of the water out while Bryant grabbed the obstetrics kit.

Then the woman’s water broke. She pushed twice and delivered her son.

“That’s as smooth as it goes,” Bryant said. “We are surrounded by bad things all the time. It’s nice when everything goes super smooth.”

Two weeks later, another Middletown crew delivered a baby girl, said Ethan Clark, 26, who has worked in Middletown for five years.

The call came in on Sept. 16 that a woman was having a miscarriage, but Clark said there must have been some miscommunication. When the medic crew arrived, she was lying on a couch. She was ready to deliver, Clark said.

She pushed and her daughter came out breached.

“It was nerve wracking,” said Clark, a 2013 Valley View High School graduate. “It was cool to be a part of it. It’s a breath of fresh air to know it isn’t all doom and gloom.”