By Scott J. Croteau
Telegram and Gazette
FRAMINGHAM, Mass. — The past few days have been a whirlwind for Massachusetts State Police dispatcher trainee Dana Peloso: Over the weekend he guided a couple having a baby in the back seat of a car, and yesterday the Oxford resident got married in Charlton.
The dispatcher, who has several years experience for Boston police and Connecticut State Police, remained calm Saturday morning when a man called to say his wife was giving birth in the back seat while they were heading to the hospital.
“I’m in my car. My wife is having the baby in the car right now,” Craig Coyle said about 12:30 a.m. while driving in Methuen. “The baby is out; her head is out right now. The (amniotic) sac isn’t broken.”
“If the sac is not broken, you need to open the sac around the mouth of the baby,” Mr. Peloso said. “Is the sac still covering the baby’s mouth? Just lightly open it.”
Mr. Peloso, 29, kept Mr. Coyle calm with specific directions. The couple’s package was special: Mr. Coyle’s wife, Kelly-Beth Coyle, was a surrogate for a Plaistow, N.H., couple - Maricar Tarun and David Dube - who were waiting for the baby girl named Madeleine Grace.
“It worked,” Mr. Coyle exclaimed on the recording of the call. “She’s crying.”
“The crying is good,” said Mr. Peloso, who is also an EMT.
Yesterday, Mr. Peloso looked over at the baby at state police headquarters in Framingham.
“It’s great. It’s amazing. I am at a loss for words, really,” Mr. Peloso said. “I was waiting to hear the crying. That was the most important part.”
When baby Madeleine gave Mrs. Coyle the sign she was ready to come out, the couple started driving from their Manchester, N.H., home to the hospital in Methuen where they had planned to deliver the baby. It was snowing, and driving was tough, but Mr. Coyle was trying hard to get his wife to the emergency room.
Madeleine had other plans.
“We thought he left in plenty of time,” Mrs. Coyle said. “Apparently not, she decided she wanted out right then and there. Before I knew it I was yelling for Craig to stop.”
That’s when Mr. Coyle called 911 and spoke to Mr. Peloso. Together the two talked through the steps to make sure Madeleine was fine. The baby was wrapped.
Soon after, Mrs. Coyle called Ms. Tarun and Mr. Dube to give them the news. Ms. Tarun had had a dream the baby wouldn’t make it to the hospital for delivery. She was right.
“We had a nice birth plan, which we didn’t use, because obviously she had other plans,” Ms. Tarun said, her husband rocking Madeleine in a car seat. “There were tears in my eyes, of course. This is real; she is here.”
The two couples had met through a mutual friend. Ms. Tarun and Mr. Dube were looking for a surrogate. Their friend put up a post on Facebook, and the Coyles answered.
After a couple of years of talking and maneuvering through paperwork, the process started. One thing none of them anticipated was a birth in the back seat of a Nissan.
“We found a full-service surrogate right here in Kelly,” Mr. Dube said, smiling as he cracked a joke. “She not only baked, but she delivers.”
The two couples repeatedly thanked Mr. Peloso for his calm and simple directions. He even called back Mr. Coyle during the incident when the phone was lost.
“Our dispatchers here at headquarters answer over 1 million and a half calls a year,” said Col. Marian J. McGovern, superintendent of the state police. “They never know what’s on the other end of that phone, but they know it’s someone that needs their help.”
Mr. Peloso watched yesterday afternoon as his soon-to-be stepson, Nathan, cruised around the gymnasium at headquarters. Last night, Mr. Peloso married his fiancee, Erin Salvas, in a small ceremony in Charlton.
Before Madeleine left, he handed her a pink state police one-piece outfit.
When asked his title, Mr. Peloso looked over at his supervisors. He wondered if he was still a trainee now.
“Is that over?” he joked.
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