Woman delivers her own baby in Miami

Irma’s powerful winds kept help from reaching her

The call came in at 3:23 a.m. Sunday. Awoman from the Little Haiti neighbourhood, just outside of downtown Miami, told a dispatcher that she was in labour.

But strong winds brought by Hurricane Irma, a massive and powerful Category 4 storm making its way to the Florida Keys, had become too dangerous for paramedics and fire crews to respond to dozens of emergency calls, assistant fire chief Pete Gomez said. Crews were able to respond to only four calls overnight. The call from the woman in labour was not one of them.

She called again at 5:35 a.m. She was about to give birth.

A conference call was convened between the woman and the emergency crews who couldn’t get to her. Paramedics, a dispatcher and a doctor from Jackson Memorial Hospital in Miami all walked her through her own childbirth — including delivering the placenta and cutting the umbilical cord. The dispatcher told her how to tie it off, assistant fire chief Eloy Garcia told the Miami Herald.

“Baby came out good, healthy,” Gomez said. “The woman was doing good, too.”

As soon as it was safe for crews to travel, the woman and her baby girl were taken to the hospital Sunday morning.

Gomez, who wasn’t in the conference call, said he does not know if the woman was with someone while she was giving birth at home, or how long the entire call took.

Authorities are not releasing her name.

The fire department received more than 430 calls from 7 a.m. Saturday to 7 a.m. Sunday, Gomez said.