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AYER -- Though it was a week before her due date, Laurel Mabon's contractions spiked in intensity and frequency on the morning of Feb. 23. Husband Scott Mabon manned the wheel as the two embarked on the drive they'd planned for nine months.
Their daughter Evee was left in the care of grandmother Karen Drumm of Chelmsford. Her parents were Boston-bound to Massachusetts General Hospital, where Evee was born, to deliver their second child, because Laurel's pregnancy was deemed high-risk due to gestational diabetes.
But Baby Mabon, an impatient patient, was having none of it. "We pretty much knew the second we left the house that we weren't going to make it," recalled Laurel, a physical therapist at Nashoba Valley Medical Center, who worked until the day before she delivered.
As they approached the Shirley/Ayer town line on Route 2A, Laurel's contractions kicked into higher gear. "I told my husband we've got to call 911," she said.
Driving with one hand and dialing with the other, Laurel recalled, Scott "was pretty funny. He told me to breathe through it."
Deep breathing, though, wasn't going to forestall the inevitable. She shot bolt upright and warned her husband that the baby's head seemed to be "in position."
Scott's cell-phone battery was dead. Laurel's was on its last legs but the call to 911 put the frantic dad in touch with the Shirley Police Department. He described the local landmarks whizzing by as he headed on Route 2A toward
Shirley emergency dispatcher Kim Thebeau advised the couple to continue on Route 2A to its intersection with Main Street. That's where the Ayer Fire station is located, she told Scott.
"They'll be waiting for you," he recalled Thebeau saying in a reassuring tone.
The parents-to-be pulled up in front of the firehouse at the most opportune time. Lt. Jeremy Januskiewicz and paramedic David Greenwood were reporting for their day-shift duties, while Capt. Timothy Johnston and paramedic Tim Shea were due to be relieved from their late night shift.
While typically two men usually handle such calls, the four teamed for the ride. "They got her out," Scott said, "right onto the gurney, put her into the ambulance and shut the doors."
"Just wait outside," they told Scott as the ambulance doors closed and they prepped Laurel for the trip. "Let her settle in and we'll let you know where we're going."
Januskiewicz said protocol dictates transport to the nearest hospital if the baby's head is crowning. However, Nashoba Valley Medical Center in Ayer does not have a birthing unit, and team determined the baby wasn't quite in place yet.
"It was a toss-up then between Leominster and Emerson (Hospitals)," Januskiewicz said, "Leominster is just a bit closer."
Scott, who was peering through the ambulance window "heard the ambulance shift into gear and saw the lights go on." Januskiewicz was in the driver's seat. Scott scrambled into his vehicle and followed.
Johnston draped the Laurel with a privacy sheet. Shea, a decade-long paramedic, braced for his first in-service baby delivery.
"After she whipped off her glasses, we knew she meant business," said Shea. "She wanted sterile water and a towel. We soaked the towel and she bit into it."
For Evee, Laurel had the benefit of an epidural pain blocker. This baby was coming by the strictly natural route.
Greenwood saw the baby's head emerged as the ambulance approached the Route 190 intersection. "Push if you feel like pushing," Shea coached. Laurel did. Shea checked under the sheet again, and announced, "Here we go."
Laurel braced one foot on the floor and relied on Johnston for an assist. "He grabbed my leg and made that kid come out."
Within a mile or so of Leominster Hospital, as the ambulance hugged the Route 2 exit ramp for the medical center on Route 12, Johnston yelled to Januskiewicz, "Just slow down."
Leaning into the curve of the winding off-ramp, Greenwood acted as catcher, taking delivery of 8-pound, 13-ounce Gracie Mae Mabon. Johnston noted the time of birth on the ambulance's digital clock - 6:47 a.m. Shea cut the umbilical cord.
"The baby was crying as soon as she came out," Greenwood said. Gracie immediately presented with healthy pink skin.
"I don't have any kids but this is awesome," he remembered thinking to himself about his first in-service birth in his five-year career.
For Johnston, a father of two, it was his first in-service birth since he joined the Ayer Fire Department in 1983. "They usually happen before we get there or after you drop them off at the hospital," he said.
The total travel time to the hospital was about 12 minutes. Mother and child were whisked into the emergency room. Scott raced to the registration desk, looking for word on his wife's condition.
"Mom and baby are in Room 1," a nurse told him.
"And baby?" Scott asked. "What do I have?" The Mabons had opted not to learn the sex of the baby in advance, adding an extra element of surprise to the day.
As Greenwood helped transfer Laurel and baby Gracie onto a hospital bed, Scott entered the room. Seeing his daughter for the first time, Scott passed out, overcome by the moment. Greenwood watched helplessly as Scott went down.
Thankfully, Scott didn't hit his head, Greenwood said. "He was just embarrassed," Laurel said.
Back at the Ayer Fire Station a week later, the Mabons returned to say thanks and present Gracie Mae for her first photo op. While family and crew fielded questions, Gracie Mae snoozed peacefully in the arms of the Ayer fire crew. She was dressed in a yellow footie-sleeper adorned with green frogs perched on pink lily pads. The men carefully took turns cradling the newborn, soaking up her loveliness.
This is the first birth aboard two-year-old Ayer Ambulance A1. A pink stork sticker will soon be adhered to the ambulance cab to memorialize its mission.
"Sorry if we caused any trouble," Laurel said to the crew.
"No, we like this kind of trouble," Shea responded.
