By Adam H. Beasley and Walter Michot
Miami Herald
Copyright 1996-2008 The Miami Herald Media Company

MIAMI — When it's time, it's time — and Thursday morning, baby Blessing couldn't wait another minute.

A 32-year-old woman gave birth to a baby girl inside her Pembroke Pines apartment — with an assist from paramedic Chris Kent.

Some time after 7 a.m., Adeola Adeyemi's water broke and the contractions began to get pretty bad. Her brother called 911, and the dispatcher tried to help her through the process.

But Blessing wasn't waiting for the hospital. The contractions grew more and more frequent. Adeyemi couldn't stop pushing.

''I was scared,'' Adeyemi said. ``I thought something was wrong with the baby.''

By the time Kent and the rest of his unit arrived at the apartment in the 12000 block of Southwest 15th Street, the baby girl's head was crowning.

At 8:06 a.m., the rest of the body followed with no complications. Blessing — 19 inches and 7 pounds, 15 ounces — was born in her mother's bedroom. She arrived four days before her due date.

''I named her Blessing because it's a blessing from God,'' Adeyemi said from her hospital bed at Memorial Hospital West. ``[Kent] was wonderful. I'm still in shock.''

The newborn was an easy birth, Kent said later, who added Blessing was mesmerized by his badge. Blessing is her third child; Adeyemi and her husband — who was out of town Thursday — have a boy and another girl.