By Abbe Smith Register Staff
The New Haven Register
BRANFORD, Conn.— Heather Gersz did not plan on giving birth in the passenger side of a car parked on the ramp from Interstate 95, but sometimes things don’t go as planned.
When the mother of one started having strong contractions about 2:30 a.m. Saturday, her husband, Jonathan Gersz, called his in-laws and got ready to drive his very pregnant wife from their home in Clinton all the way to Yale-New Haven Hospital.
Before they left, Heather’s mother made an unusual suggestion to Jonathan: “The last thing my mother-in-law said was to call 911 for a police escort. I’m thinking, ‘Oh yeah, right.’ But you know, there’s a reason she said it.”
Jonathan took his mother-in-law’s advice. He called the Westbrook Troop F barracks and informed them that he was driving along I-95 with his wife, who was extremely close to giving birth. The trooper on the phone took down the make and model of the Gersz’s car — just in case — and gave Jonathan another piece of advice: If either he or Heather believed the baby was about to be born, call 911 right away. Jonathan noted the advice and started driving. Two minutes later, it was time to call 911.
By then, the baby was coming so fast that Heather had to start pushing. Jonathan dialed 911 on his cell phone and got hooked up with a dispatcher who calmly instructed him to get off at the next exit and stay on the phone for further instruction. Jonathan did as instructed and pulled off of exit 55 in Branford and parked his car in the breakdown lane of the ramp. By now the baby’s head was starting to crown, Heather told her husband. The dispatcher assured them that help was on the way.
“We were by ourselves for all of 30 seconds, but it felt like 10 minutes,” Jonathan said.
That’s when Branford police Officer Brian McGinnis, who happens to be trained as an emergency medical technician and works on the side as an ambulance attendant for American Medical Response, swooped in to save the day. Accompanied by fellow Officer Philip Ramey, McGinnis calmly and skillfully got to the business of baby- delivering. He pulled on blue latex gloves — a detail both Heather and Jonathan clearly remember from the chaotic scene — and came to Heather’s side.
“The officer, Brian McGinnis, was a blessing,” Jonathan said. “He kept me calm. The stars were aligned here.”
Almost immediately, Heather’s water broke and the baby’s head came out. When the ambulance arrived, McGinnis stepped aside to alert the paramedics to the urgency of the delivery.
“That’s when Heather took over,” Jonathan said and smiles at his wife. “She is a powerful woman. She put the seat back and pushed a couple more times.”
The baby was born at 3:12 a.m., 17 minutes after the Gersz family left Clinton. Jonathan said McGinnis delivered the baby “right where you would put your feet in the passenger seat, and this is not a big car.” For her part, Heather said she was just glad to have given birth to a healthy baby. She didn’t even know the sex of the baby until later when she was in the ambulance en route to the hospital.
“Not that it mattered,” she said, smiling at her little boy, wrapped tightly in a blue blanket and knit hat. The couple named their second baby Bowen. The newborn has a 4-year-old sister named Gavin.
Branford Fire Department paramedics Paul Cipriani and Dan Kunze arrived immediately after the birth and continued with medical treatment of the baby and mother.
“It was a big surprise to jump out of the ambulance and hear the baby crying,” Kunze said with a laugh. Kunze said crying is always a good sign with a newborn; it means the airways are clear and the heart is beating. So Kunze made it a priority to keep the baby warm until he could be transported to the hospital. Luckily, Saturday morning was warm for April, but it was colder than a delivery room in a hospital and far too cold for a newborn.
Heather and Bowen were then transported to Yale-New Haven Hospital with Jonathan en route and a state trooper trailing in case of any more surprises.
By Saturday afternoon, Heather was snug in her hospital bed with baby Bowen in her arms and a beaming Jonathan by her side.
“We are looking forward to a happy life,” Jonathan said. Heather nodded her head and wiped a tear from her eye.
Copyright 2010 ProQuest Information and Learning