Saugus Police help save unresponsive baby born on side of the road

SAUGUS — Thanks to the Saugus Police Department, a baby born on the side of the road inside a minivan is alive today.

Police received a call at around 1:35 a.m. on Monday morning from a man saying he was driving his wife to the hospital as she was going into labor inside the car.

The man told Dispatcher Ryan Bancroft they were driving on Essex Street near the Square One Mall and that they could see the baby's head.

Bancroft told the man to pull over and that an ambulance and police officers were heading their way.

As he stayed on the phone with the man, the baby was delivered in the back of the van but was unresponsive. The umbilical cord had wrapped around the newborn's neck, cutting off his air supply.

Through the phone, Bancroft gave the new father instructions on removing the cord from around the baby's neck and coached him through performing CPR. As the father began giving CPR to the baby, the boy started breathing and crying.

Officer Pedro Youssef then found the car and stayed with the family until the ambulance arrived.

"The temperature outside at that time I believe was four degrees at that point so that was one of the biggest concerns was keeping that child warm because at the time when the police officer arrived it was just against the mother's chest, soaking wet from the initial delivery," said Wayne Gilbert, the paramedic at the scene.

Gilbert says this was only the fourth delivery of his career, but definitely the most memorable one.

"This has been the more challenging one but like I said I can't say enough for all of the departments involved - without them, this could have had a much worse scenario," said Gilbert.

The family was taken to an area hospital where the baby and mother are reportedly doing well.

“I want to commend our staff for their actions that assuredly helped to save this baby’s life and provided a calming presence for the family in a very hectic and scary situation. We train for situations like these, but it is rare to have a call like this and I am really thrilled to see it had a happy ending,” Chief Ronald Giorgetti said. “I spoke to the father on Monday morning and was told that the baby and mother are healthy and doing just fine.”

This all happened the night of the flash freeze over the area, making conditions even less suitable for people to be outside, let alone a newborn baby.

Fortunately, this was the couple's second child, so the paramedics say the husband had some previous experience and was able to provide them with extremely helpful information that helped them call the hospital ahead of time and have the incubator ready for their baby boy.

Cox Media Group