What a Birthday Present!
byMorris J Paserchia

Seasoned EMTs Morris Paserchia and Lynn Feldman were just beginning their shift at the Westfield Volunteer Rescue Squad, Westfield, NJ and had decided to get things going with a cup of coffee.  Turns out that no caffeine was needed to get the adrenaline going for this team.  Within 5 minutes of getting the rig ready for duty in came a call for a woman in labor.  Morris thought, "not a bad way to start off" as it was his birthday and transporting a soon-to-be-mom to the hospital would be a pleasant diversion from the recent rash of "aid to sick" and motor vehicle accident calls.  Well, it didn't quite turn out that way.  Even though mom's labor began two hours prior to the call, things moved along very quickly.  Contractions were 3 minutes apart and it became clear that the delivery was imminent.  In less than the two minutes it took to package mom up and get her to the rig, the baby's head crowned and progressed so fast that the baby was actually delivered on the front lawn in the pouring rain!  Subsequently both mom and baby were transported and are doing fine.  It's going to be difficult to say the least for Morris to get a better birthday present - his first delivery.  As for Lynn, she's a pro as this is number two for her - not counting her own two daughters!