By Jesse Leavenworth
The Hartford Courant
EAST HARTFORD, Conn. — Kaylessie St. Martin came into the world on a cold bathroom floor, but healthy thanks to the calm coaching of a veteran East Hartford dispatcher.
The month-old baby’s parents met dispatcher Stacie Rosedale in person for the first time Wednesday at the town’s public safety complex, where first responders held a ceremony to honor Rosedale and all emergency dispatchers.
Proud dad Livie St. Martin, 27, and mom Tanya Mathena, 30, beamed as Rosedale cradled Kaylessie, who weighed 7 pounds, 11 ounces at birth on March 15.
At about 1 a.m. that day, the couple had hurried to Manchester Memorial Hospital when Mathena was experiencing contractions. Told it was a false alarm, they returned home to East Hartford, St. Martin said.
Mathena, however, couldn’t sleep. Several hours later, she announced: “ ‘We’re gonna have this baby right now!’ ” St. Martin said.
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St. Martin called 911 at 6:14 a.m. and Rosedale answered. Although she has been on the job for about 30 years, Rosedale said it was her first time assisting with a birth. She called up emergency medical instructions on her computer screen, but had to veer from the script to steady St. Martin’s nerves.
At one point as Mathena screamed loudly and said, “I can’t do this,” but Rosedale reassured him, a tape of the 911 call shows.
“Do you see any obvious problems?” Rosedale asked after the baby emerged. “You see the cord around her neck, anything like that?”
The dispatcher continued bringing the excited, agitated father back on task as the birth progressed.
“Listen, you’re doing great,” she told St. Martin.
Rosedale stayed on the line until paramedics arrived. She ended the call saying , “You guys did fantastic,” and, “Congratulations, sir.”
Without Rosedale’s help—for example, telling him how to hold the baby’s head as it emerged—St. Martin said he did not want to consider what might have happened.
Rosedale said of Kaylessie’s parents: “They did all the hard work.”
The fire department’s chief medical officer, Todd Lomento, presented the dispatcher, a mother and grandmother herself, with a pink stork pin, marking her vital role in the girl’s birth.
“In 30 years, this is my proudest moment,” Rosedale said while holding the baby. “It doesn’t get any better than this.”
East Hartford paramedic Christopher Devine, who was first at the scene, said his “job was already done” by the time he arrived. But unexpected deliveries don’t always end so well, Devine said.
“It was just awesome to be part of that, just because of how it can go,” he said.
The press conference honoring Rosedale was part of a celebration of National Public Safety Telecommunicators Week. Last year, East Hartford dispatchers answered 33,000 police calls and 11,000 fire and medical calls, Lomento said. The second week of April brings awareness and highlights dispatchers’ crucial role in the community, he said.