By Chandra Johnson
The Taos News
TAOS COUNTY, N.M. — A Taos County EMT and a paramedic got the experience of a lifetime last month when they delivered a healthy 9-pound baby girl in their ambulance.
Taos County EMS director Joaquin Gonzales said Friday (April 13) that EMT Wayne Archuleta and paramedic Hannah Cornelius responded to the emergency call from Luisa and Carlos Dipas in front of the Kachina Lodge July 23 — expecting parents en route to Holy Cross Hospital from Questa.
The couple’s second daughter, Sandra Ximena, was born exactly three minutes later in the back of the ambulance.
“None of our calls are this rewarding,” Gonzales said. “Hardly ever in EMS history do you deliver a baby in the back of an ambulance. Most of the time deliveries are done in the home or at the hospital.”
The Dipases brought their now 3-week-old daughter to the EMS offices Friday to meet the staff.
Luisa Raymondi Dipas said the day the child was born, she had already been sent home from the hospital.
“I started my contractions in the morning and they said I wasn’t dilated enough,” Luisa Raymondi Dipas said.
“I said, ‘I don’t think she’s going to make it,’” Carlos Dipas, said laughing.
By that night, the couple decided the hospital had been wrong and raced to Taos for help. By the time the ambulance arrived, the baby was crowning.
“Now, I would say to other ladies to trust their feelings,” Carlos Dipas said. “They know better than anyone else.”
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