By Stephen Hudak
The Orlando Sentinel
ORLANDO, Fla. — Alma Jones has been present for the delivery of all five of her grandbabies. For the first four, she mostly sat in a hospital chair, arms folded, anxiously awaiting the baby’s arrival.
The fifth one she caught.
With the calm, step-by-step guidance of Orange County Fire/Rescue dispatcher Rene Cheek, Jones delivered her grandson on the bathroom floor of the family’s east Orlando apartment. Paramedics arrived shortly after 5-pound, 15-ounce Will Josiah Johnson belted out his first cry.
“Is that the baby I heard crying in the background?” Cheek asked Jones in the recorded 911 call Nov. 27. “Tell the mom congratulations.”
In honor of Mother’s Day, which is Sunday, Orange County arranged a reunion Friday with the dispatcher, grandma, the baby, and the baby’s mother, Shronda Barnes. The meeting at fire-rescue headquarters in Winter Park included a Mother’s Day cake, flowers and balloons.
County spokeswoman Doreen Overstreet brought a baby-size fire hat for little Will, and others donned plastic fire-chief helmets for photos.
The meeting served as a chance for the family to thank the dispatcher for her help that morning.
“It was like she was in the bathroom with us,” Barnes said.
Cheek, 44, said labor calls are common for dispatchers, who usually field one or two a day in Orange County. But typically paramedics arrive in time to attend to the mother-to-be or get her to the hospital. The county provides training for its dispatchers in case a baby comes fast.
“It wasn’t the first baby I’ve delivered over the phone, just the most memorable,” she said.
Cheek gathered information from Jones during the call to relay to paramedics while cautioning the grandmother to be ready and “remember, the baby’s going to be slippery so don’t drop the baby …" She helped Jones take the baby gently from the birth canal and comfort the mom.
In her four years as a dispatcher, Cheek has sent rescue crews to shootings, stabbings, fires, car wrecks and other tragedies.
“You never know what’s going to happen,” she said. “We don’t often end a shift on a positive note.”
But Cheek left work happy that morning.
“I was smiling the rest of my shift,” she said. “I was so thankful everyone was OK.”
Barnes thought her mother would freak out when she went into labor about 5 that morning. Her other kids, startled by the cries, tried to crowd into the small bathroom to help. But she, too, credited the dispatcher’s calm voice and clear directions for a safe and successful birth.
“The hospital wanted to charge for delivering the baby,” Barnes said. “Uh, no, my mom did that.”
Copyright 2016 The Orlando Sentinel