Roadside birth delivered a ‘perfect outcome’

With contractions starting around 9.50pm and the couple living on a farm more than an hour from Goulburn Valley Health, they knew they had to move quickly.

“The contractions were already so intense,” Tayla said.

“From the first and second contraction not even two minutes apart, we got in the car and baby Jimmy was born within an hour.”

The couple had even joked about the possibility of a roadside birth after the quick arrival of their daughter two years ago.

“We had just bought a new car and I was like, I don’t wanna have him in the car, we’re going to have to burn it,” Tayla said.

But the joking quickly stopped and Jack pulled over at the intersection of McCarten Rd and Katamatite-Shepparton Main Rd when Tayla felt the baby’s head.

Soon she was kneeling on a towel on the side of the road.

The couple called the hospital, where a midwife urged them to call 000 immediately.

Emergency communications officer Monet Stitt-Jones, who has been a Triple Zero call-taker for less than 12 months, was connected, hearing “we’re having a baby” right away.

Having helped another couple deliver their baby previously, Monet became a calm, steady presence, helping guide Jack through the delivery.

“We need to now lay her on her back, get her in the centre of that towel, and I’m going to tell you how to deliver the baby,” Monet said on the call.

“Apply some pressure to the head to stop the baby from delivering too fast … support its head and shoulders … the baby will be slippery, so don’t drop it.”

Some of the most heartwarming calls Triple Zero Victoria receives are from parents whose babies just simply could not wait — with its call-takers assisting in 17 births in the first three months of this year.

While pre-hospital births aren’t unusual, it’s what happened next that no-one could have prepared for.

Jimmy was born en caul — a rare event where a baby is born while still inside the amniotic sac. This occurs in one in 80,000 births.

With the guidance of Monet, Jack remained calm and used his agricultural instincts to break open the sac and give Jimmy his first breath.

“I kind of just ripped into it with my hands,” Jack said.

“Looking back now, it couldn’t have worked out any better, and just quite grateful that we had the Triple Zero team there to get us through.”

Then came the moment they all remember vividly: baby Jimmy’s first cry.

“It was incredible and such a relief hearing the first cry,” they all said.

Ambulance Victoria Mobile Intensive Care Ambulance paramedics arrived shortly after midnight in a heated van to find a healthy mum and baby on the roadside.

“It was almost midnight, it was a pretty cold event,” paramedic Jeremy Lia said.

“Once we did an assessment and ensured everyone was safe and healthy, we focused on comfort.

“Getting them wrapped up in towels and blankets and moving them into the warm ambulance.”

MICA paramedics often respond to only the highest acuity emergencies, so this birth was a rare bright light for Jeremy and his colleague Steph Sewell.

“We left this case going ‘how nice was that?’ The nice cases are something we often miss out on as MICA paramedics, so it was very special,” Jeremy said.

On Monday, April 20, Monet was lucky enough to meet the parents she helped.

“This is a first for me and actually just seeing Jimmy in the flesh, it really is something else from the crying I heard on the phone,” Monet said.

“We don’t usually meet the people we help.”

What began as a late-night rush to the hospital ended as a story the family, and the emergency workers that supported them will never forget.

“Being part of their son’s safe arrival is something I’ll carry with me for ever,” Monet said.