Stork EMS Club
Illinois - Emergency workers see their special delivery again
By
Nov 11, 2003, 01:29

Courtesy the EMS House of DeFrance http://www.defrance.org

Singer-songwriter Paul Simon once sang about the mother and child reunion being "only a motion away."

Thursday night in North Aurora, a very special reunion of another sort took place between a mother, a child and a group of emergency workers who just a few week ago helped bring a new life into the world.

Renee Riani and her husband, Anthony, came to the fire station to thank firefighter/paramedics Lisa Kish and Lt. Scott Jackson and emergency medical technician Jim Sakelakos, who all helped turn an anxiety-filled morning into a story with a happy ending the Rianis will be telling for years.

On the morning of Oct. 17, Anthony and Renee were on their way to the hospital to deliver Rebecca Christine, their second child. Renee said her water broke about 40 minutes beforehand and that things suddenly got out of control.

"Everything happened so fast, and I knew this baby wanted to come out," she said. "My husband started to panic, and I think if I could have laughed at the time I would have. Some of the things he said were just crazy."

As it turns out, Rebecca Christine was born in the ambulance en route to the hospital, just 15 minutes after the distress call. But according to Fire Chief Steven Miller, things almost didn't work out that way.

"A distress call was overheard by a North Aurora police officer shortly before 5 a.m. regarding a pregnant woman in need of assistance at Maple Street and IL Route 31," Miller said. "There was some confusion about whether the call was for the Batavia personnel or here in North Aurora. The officer alerted 911 and then went to check it out."

Within minutes, emergency personnel and a vehicle were on hand, and now three weeks later, both parents and their young baby show signs of joy rather than trauma.

Renee said she and her husband wanted to come back to thank the professionals who helped her because there was too much going on the first time they met.

"I always felt they were in charge of the situation and I was never worried about something going wrong," she said. "As it turns out, I didn't need medical intervention. Birth is a natural process."

Anthony Riani wasn't quite so matter-of-fact about his second daughter's arrival.

"You always read in the paper or hear about the 'other guy' having something like this happen," he said. "This time, we were the 'other guy.' I thought having that ambulance being there was our savior."

Kish, Sakelakos, and Jackson all realize they've made a friend for life and can't wait until Rebecca gets a little bit older in order to hear the story of what really happened on Oct. 17, which also happens to be her mother's birthday.

"We have a little boy we helped deliver back in 1997, and he still comes back every year on his birthday for a visit," Kish said. "Renee was really quite a trouper, but I was glad to be there. This is, by far, the best experience of my career. They train you for the worst-case scenarios, but you seldom see them happen. This has certainly given me lot of confidence if it happens again."

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