Special delivery at Niagara EMS base
Married paramedics welcome son at Linwell Road station
Mark Taylor has delivered maybe six or eight babies during his career as a paramedic with Niagara Emergency Medical Services.
But he never thought he’d be delivering his own son.
His wife Taylor Haynes, who also works as a Niagara EMS paramedic, laughed and reminded him he has joked about delivering his own children in the past.
“The jokes on me, now,” Mark said.
Taylor said she hoped her baby would finally arrive after she felt a strong contraction at about 6 a.m. Wednesday — six days after her due date.
She went about her business, walking her dog and waiting for her husband to return home from work.
But it soon became apparent the baby was coming — fast.
By the time Mark arrived home an hour later, her contractions were less than four minutes apart.
Mark asked if they needed to call an ambulance.
“I said, ‘No! We are not calling,’” she said, aghast at the idea of co-workers helping deliver her baby.
The couple instead hopped in their car to start the long drive from their Niagara-on-the-Lake home to the obstetrics department at St. Catharines hospital.
But they soon hit slow-moving traffic on Lakeshore Road. And by the time they reached the intersection of Niagara Street, Taylor’s water broke.
Taylor swallowed her pride and told Mark he’d better call an ambulance, after all.
Mark called EMS dispatcher Ashley Barker at 7:42 a.m. and headed to the nearest Niagara EMS base at 337 Linwell Rd. in St. Catharines, where he knew paramedics would easily find them.
Mark said he initially thought they’d transfer Taylor to an ambulance, and they’d make it to the hospital in time with lights and sirens clearing the way on the busy city streets.
“But I knew better,” Taylor said.
It was Taylor’s fourth pregnancy, and she knew it would be a quick labour.
And by the time her water broke, she said she knew they wouldn’t make it to hospital — even aboard an ambulance.
Still, she said, the speed of her son’s arrival took her off guard.
“I knew he was going to come at an increased rate — just not that fast.”
Niagara EMS operations su
pervisor Terry Flynn and a team of paramedics arrived moments later, but by then they had no choice but to deliver the baby right then and there.
They instead placed Taylor on a stretcher and rolled her into the EMS station’s crew room. And as a second crew of paramedics arrived, Mark said his colleagues got to work setting up for the delivery.
“Everyone had their part. There was no excitement. It was just right to the point,” Mark said. “Even though it was their co-worker, everyone was so calm and professional.”
Flynn said within 12 minutes of Mark’s call, there were five paramedics at the couple’s side, “and everybody just came in and assumed their roles.”
“It just went very professional, very smooth.”
Although advanced-care paramedic Kerry Jackson was the senior medic on scene, he said Taylor was clearly in charge.
“I just told them what I wanted to happen,” Taylor said.
“And I was listening to mom,” Jackson added.
The healthy baby boy, named Weston by his proud parents, was born at about 8:10 a.m.
“And he’s huge,” Taylor said, adding he weighed in at 10 pounds and five ounces.
Weston and his parents were then transported to Niagara Health’s obstetrics department, where they spent the remainder of the day resting.
Flynn said Weston’s bright eyes were wide open as they helped bring him into the world. He was looking around at the paramedics and the Niagara EMS base that had been hastily transformed into a maternity ward.
“It almost seemed like he was ready,” Flynn said.
He said Weston, however, will have to wait a few more years before he gets a Niagara EMS uniform of his own.
Flynn said Niagara EMS doesn’t hire new recruits until they’re at least 18 years old.