By Stefanie Scott
The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
WAUWATOSA, Wisc. — Kelly Norris wants her granddaughter to know about the Wauwatosa “heroes” who helped welcome her into the world.
So she made sure to save the wrapper from the obstetrics kit that Tosa paramedics used for baby Kloe’s somewhat unusual delivery.
You see, baby Kloe’s mom, Allison Norris, didn’t get to follow her plan for her baby’s birth.
She had expected that her boyfriend, Tony Treder, would be by her bedside, her friends and family would be close by in the waiting room, a doctor and nurses would handle the delivery, and she’d get an epidural for the pain.
Instead, Kloe’s delivery was filled with pain and fear.
“That night was traumatic,” Allison said. “I think about it every day.” The mom-to-be was five days overdue when the contractions started coming fast and furious about 9 p.m.
June 30. From her childbirth classes, she knew it was time to head to the hospital and bring her child into the world. After waiting 20 minutes to see a nurse at a Milwaukee-area hospital, Allison was told she was only 1-centimeter dilated. The on-call doctor prescribed a sleeping pill and told her to come back at 6 a.m. If her labor hadn’t progressed, the doctor would induce it in the morning, she was told.
“I could see the contractions on the screen,” Allison said. “I’m five days late and I was in severe pain and they’re sending me home?” Allison considered returning to her Franklin home. But her mother, Kelly, stepped in and took her to her Wauwatosa home to keep an eye on her.
In this case, mother really did know best. The labor pains started coming faster, and Allison was having trouble focusing because of the effects of the medication. She was in and out of the bathroom, sick.
“I couldn’t even take a breath because they (the contractions) were coming so fast. I had the urge to push,” Allison said. “All of the sudden I felt something happening.” Kelly spotted the baby’s head and reacted in time to catch the baby as it “flew out.” Kloe Ann Treder was 6 pounds and 15 ounces, 20 inches long, and most importantly, as they later learned, healthy.
Kelly tried to clear the baby’s airway and make sure she was breathing. She let Allison hold the baby while they waited for the paramedics to arrive. The Wauwatosa Fire Department received the call at 12:08 a.m. July 1. They responded, and paramedics crowded into the small bathroom to cut and clamp the umbilical cord, swaddle and stimulate the baby, administer oxygen, and monitor the mother’s and infant’s vitals. Then it was an ambulance ride to the hospital. Firefighter Jeremy Blair tended to Kloe, while firefighter Bob Kind worked with Allison.
“We really had two patients,” Jeremy said. “Everyone always worries about the baby, but the mom was just exhausted. She had just been through a traumatic experience.” The Fire Department assists in about a half dozen births each year. For Jeremy, this was the third time he had responded to a healthy baby being born. “It’s truly one of the most extraordinary things to see a new baby come into this world,” he said.
Basic obstetrics kits are kept in ambulances. Kelly kept the wrapper for Kloe’s baby book. The women plan to bring 7-week-old Kloe to the Fire Department so the paramedics can see how big she’s already gotten. The family has asked NOW to withhold the name of the hospital because they are working the facility to get the ambulance and other bills covered.
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