KENOSHA, Wis. — Five minutes. That’s about the time it takes to listen to your favorite song twice or maybe run a quick errand.
It’s also the amount of time it took for a Kenosha 911 operator to guide a woman in labor through the birth of her baby girl.
In the 13 years Kristin McCoy has worked as a 911 telecommunicator she says she’s never had a call like the one she received on May 11.
“I can still hear her panic in her voice, so I knew something was going on, I just wasn't sure what yet,” McCoy recalled.
In a recording of that call, a woman on the other end of the line says, “I am currently in labor, and I believe my baby is going to come now.”
McCoy says she’s fielded calls over the years of women experiencing contractions, “but there's never any delivery! You know, the ambulance is usually there.”
She asked the woman on the line if she can see or feel the baby. The woman replied that she can see the baby’s head.
“That was the point where I was like ‘Okay, it’s time to go!’” McCoy said.
As the ambulance was on the way, Kristin guided the woman and her partner through delivery until she heard the baby crying.
“Hearing the baby cry is what really- having two kids myself- just hearing that, knowing that the baby was okay, was the best part.”
She says in a business where you don't often get to know what happens to the people on the other end of the line, it felt like she got to finish the job completely.
TMJ4's Mariam Mackar asked her what her favorite part of the job is.
“Helping people. I mean that’s really what we do. Even though we're not out there physically doing it, we get to be the first first-responder.”
At last check, both the mom and baby from the call are doing well.
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