Someday, when Steven James Hough is old enough to hear the story of his birth, his parents, Jessica Maclean and Richard Hough, will have quite the tale to tell him.
But yesterday, the one-day-old was content to sleep, undoubtedly tired from the exciting entrance he made into the world in the front seat of the family’s Toyota on the side of River Road Saturday night.
When the stay-at-home mom went into labour on Saturday, the couple phoned the sitter for their other two children, Ian, 4, and Emily, 2. On the way to the hospital, Maclean’s water broke. The couple pulled over on the side of River Road near Limebank Road. With no cell phone, Hough flagged down a car to use their phone and called 9-1-1.
“The head delivered very quickly,” said Maclean. “He checked to make sure the cord wasn’t on the neck. The next contraction, the rest of Steven was delivered. He put him on me and I think we wrapped him in my pants.”
Because Steven is the couple’s third child, there were no surprises, she said. “I kept remembering back to first aid courses that I had done, and between that and instinct, nothing felt that strange, other than the front seat of a van,” Maclean said.
The baby weighed in at seven pounds, 11 ounces.
“The 911 dispatcher was very much a calming influence,” said Hough, an air combat systems operator with the Canadian Forces.
“The baby came out during the call. I heard the cry,” said Stephanie Breau, the dispatcher who took the call. “It was awesome. It’s a feel-good call.”
“I‘ve been doing this for 22 years and this was my first baby call,” said paramedic team leader Lise Laporte. “For an unusual call, this had the best ending possible. It went 100 per cent picture perfect.”
