A South Carolina family is happy to be together after a dispatcher helped them deliver their baby at home. It happened early in the morning at the end of last month.Chris Dodd called 911, while Shonda Fuller prepared to deliver their third child together after going into labor unexpectedly at home. Fuller was 38 weeks and three days pregnant. “I think she’s about to have the baby,” Dodd told dispatcher Jillian Malone, during the 911 call. “Can you see any part of the baby now?” Malone asked. “No, she’s just having contractions real bad,” Dodd said. Malone asked a few more questions, including how many contractions and told Dodd that medical attention was on the way. “I’m getting (EMS) on the way. Stay on the line with me,” she said. “It was usually the time I would get up for work and I kind of figured after getting up I wasn’t going to work that morning,” Dodd told sister station WYFF in an interview Tuesday. “I never thought I could do it never. Especially without the pain medicine,” said Fuller, sitting next to him with their newborn baby, Zoriah. Malone was just four months into the job at the Spartanburg County Communications 911 Center when she got that call, which lasted a little more than eight minutes. She advised Dodd to make sure Fuller was lying down and offered some other suggestions.”We just kept going and then he was like, I can see the baby and I was like, alright, we’re doing this. And we made sure he had dry towels to catch the baby in.” “What she told me to tell her, I told (Shonda),” Dodd said. “Do you have a string or a shoelace that you can tie around the umbilical cord?” Malone asked during the call. “Oh lord, you think they here yet?” Dodd asked. Malone stayed calm, “They’re coming,” she said. “They’re just a couple minutes away. Do you have a string or a shoelace you can tie around the umbilical cord?”Fuller said that moment felt like much longer than eight minutes. “Once I pushed her out, I was relieved, tired and just happy that she came out crying because I wouldn’t have had anything to clear her airways,” Fuller said. EMS arrived moments later, taking Shonda and newborn Zoriah to the hospital. Now Zoriah is happy and healthy at home, growing up with her one-year-old brother and three-year-old sister. Malone said she’s glad she could help. “We’re taught to try and be as calm as possible,” she said. “Yeah, it’s super stressful but you want to be there for the other people. So a calming voice normally calms others. It makes me feel really good that they’re all good.”
A South Carolina family is happy to be together after a dispatcher helped them deliver their baby at home.
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It happened early in the morning at the end of last month.
Chris Dodd called 911, while Shonda Fuller prepared to deliver their third child together after going into labor unexpectedly at home. Fuller was 38 weeks and three days pregnant.
“I think she’s about to have the baby,” Dodd told dispatcher Jillian Malone, during the 911 call.
“Can you see any part of the baby now?” Malone asked.
“No, she’s just having contractions real bad,” Dodd said.
Malone asked a few more questions, including how many contractions and told Dodd that medical attention was on the way.
“I’m getting (EMS) on the way. Stay on the line with me,” she said.
“It was usually the time I would get up for work and I kind of figured after getting up I wasn’t going to work that morning,” Dodd told sister station WYFF in an interview Tuesday.
“I never thought I could do it never. Especially without the pain medicine,” said Fuller, sitting next to him with their newborn baby, Zoriah.
Malone was just four months into the job at the Spartanburg County Communications 911 Center when she got that call, which lasted a little more than eight minutes.
She advised Dodd to make sure Fuller was lying down and offered some other suggestions.
“We just kept going and then he was like, I can see the baby and I was like, alright, we’re doing this. And we made sure he had dry towels to catch the baby in.”
“What she told me to tell her, I told (Shonda),” Dodd said.
“Do you have a string or a shoelace that you can tie around the umbilical cord?” Malone asked during the call.
“Oh lord, you think they here yet?” Dodd asked.
Malone stayed calm, “They’re coming,” she said. “They’re just a couple minutes away. Do you have a string or a shoelace you can tie around the umbilical cord?”
Fuller said that moment felt like much longer than eight minutes.
“Once I pushed her out, I was relieved, tired and just happy that she came out crying because I wouldn’t have had anything to clear her airways,” Fuller said.
EMS arrived moments later, taking Shonda and newborn Zoriah to the hospital.
Now Zoriah is happy and healthy at home, growing up with her one-year-old brother and three-year-old sister.
Malone said she’s glad she could help.
“We’re taught to try and be as calm as possible,” she said. “Yeah, it’s super stressful but you want to be there for the other people. So a calming voice normally calms others. It makes me feel really good that they’re all good.”
