WESTLOCK – When Westlock paramedic Katy Schulha began her shift with Associated Ambulance Dec. 6, there wasn’t anything different about it.
But that all changed just before 10 a.m. when a call for assistance came that a woman was in labour north of the Village of Clyde.
A paramedic for several years, Schulha has been with the Westlock station since June and was paired up with Athabasca paramedic, Cody Alexander that day, whose partner had called in sick. When they got the call at 9:50 a.m. the two paramedics drove to the home and immediately called for backup.
“Her husband called us because they didn’t think they were going to make it in on time, so we got there and we got her in the back of our ambulance,” said Schulha, noting that two Thorhild paramedics were called to assist.
“We can’t transport more than one patient in the back of an ambulance so whenever we have a delivery, we always need a backup crew,” she explained, noting both ambulances had planned to meet up with Schulha and Alexander enroute to St. Albert, but just five minutes into the trip, the twins had other ideas.
“We did not make it that far. There was a baby screaming in the background, so we quickly pulled over and made sure everybody was OK and the baby was good,”, she said noting she drove, while Alexander was in the back assisting with the birth. They then made the decision to drive to Westlock Healthcare Centre. The first baby was born at 11:58 a.m. and the second arrived at 12:05 p.m.
“We pulled into Westlock hospital, and we were worried that baby No. 2 was coming like right now which it did,” said Schulha. “We basically got mama into the hospital, and she just delivered right then and there and I was able to catch the second baby,” she said with a big smile. “Both babies were pretty healthy, and the mama did really good.”
Alexander said he was “was speechless” when he delivered the first baby boy on the side of Highway 18 as along with the Thorhild crew and Schulha, it was the first birth for him as well.
“It was just awesome. It couldn’t have turned out any better than it did,” said Alexander. “It was super calm and a really relaxed environment considering the labour … the baby came out really well and started crying right away.”
Both paramedics praised the nursing staff at Westlock Healthcare Centre for their assistance, despite not having a labour and delivery doctor available.
“The nurses were absolutely fantastic. In scrambling together staff that were there that had labour and delivery experience and were qualified to do that,” explained Alexander.
Schulha was happy to see the baby boys were a good size and it was an easy delivery with no complications. “We couldn’t have been more pleased with the outcome. It doesn’t happen every day but when it does, it’s just an amazing experience for sure.”
