Dad-to-be Eric Flowers (who had adopted his wife’s family name after marrying Chrissy Flowers) was out in the neighborhood trick or treating with his son and stepdaughter when he received a call from his father-in-law. Crissy was in labor though the baby was not due until 1st December.
Eric called 911 before rushing home but the baby was not going to wait.
The new father told the Telegram, “I walked in the door and the baby was coming out.”
The quick thinking grampa, however, handled the delivery focusing on the baby as she came out, cleaning her face and making sure that she was breathing.
The former Monson volunteer firefighter said in his interview to the Telegram,
“I was in the Navy for eight years, I’ve seen half the world, I’ve done everything a man could want to do … except this,” he said. “I’ve been gloating about this.”
But it was a bit of a dream come true for him as he had wanted his wife to have a homebirth when she was expecting Chrissy.
Eric, a former West Brookfield firefighter who served four years in the Army, returned home just in time to use some bread ties and rubber band to tie the umbilical cord and cut the baby free. He had assisted in a delivery once before in an ambulance.
Police officer Matthew McGoldrick says he walked through the door just in time for the baby’s arrival. The officer says that it was still a pleasant surprise for him as such occurrences happen rarely in a police officer’s life and he was experiencing an emergency delivery only a month after joining the force.
“That was quite the experience,” he said. “It was such a positive thing to hear the baby cry.”
The officers helped deliver the placenta, observed the cord cutting and checked the vital signs before taking the new mom and the baby to Harrington Hospital in Southbridge, where she will stay for about two weeks.
The baby girl has been named Joslynn Daniella and weighed 5 pounds and 6 ounces.
Chrissy says that she was not surprised with the way her baby daughter arrived. Her five year old daughter Mariah was delivered as soon as she arrived at the hospital and her two year old son Daniel too was almost born in the parking lot.
“I prayed this whole pregnancy that I’d be able to get an epidural for this one,” she said to the Telegram. “Next time I’m not even going to plan on going to the hospital.”
Her husband agrees but adds that the next time hopefully it will be his turn to deliver their child.
