The job of a 911 dispatcher is a challenging one to be sure. But it was made even more so for one dispatcher in Orem, Utah this week when she got a call from a frantic father-to-be whose wife was well into labor and about to give birth.
Julie Merrell received the call from Mike Anderson who was rushing his wife Kelly to a local hospital in Orem so that she could deliver the couple’s third child. But Mike didn’t make it to the hospital and had to pull off the road and stop at a nearby parking lot in order to deliver the baby himself.
The problem was that mike had no idea what to do and called 911 for assistance. Kelly’s water had broken just minutes before, which is what prompted him to stop.
He asked Merrell if he should just keep driving to the hospital. She told him that it was up to him but that if he wanted her to, she would talk him through delivering the baby himself if he didn’t think there was enough time to get there. Anderson determined that there wasn’t enough time and Merrell began walking him through the process of delivering his child in the couple’s minivan.
Merrell’s instructions were simple but detailed, and according to Anderson, she spoke in a calm and even tone, which helped him, stay calm as well.
Merrell had called for an ambulance in the meantime and by the time it arrived, Anderson had already delivered the baby and had it wrapped in terrycloth per Merrell’s instructions.
Mike Anderson had asked Merrell if he should wait for the paramedics to arrive but she told him that if it’s going to come out to “let it come out and [don’t] wait.” According to Anderson it was a “perfect, outcome. Could not have hoped for better.”