Katie Farber was only seven shifts into her job as a 911 operator at California’s Ventura County Fire Department when she got a call that would have unnerved anyone else. A father was asking for help regarding the delivery of his own son.
Any questions about rushing the mother over to the hospital went out the window when Supreme Dow, the father, told her that not only was his wife in labor but that he could actually see the top of his son’s head as he was crowning.
The 25-year-old dispatcher then switched gears and started giving him instructions over the phone. She told the father-to-be to tell his wife “to push with each contraction, with a deep breath in between.” She also told him to make sure that he was supporting the baby’s head and shoulders during the process. Her confidence was contagious and soon Dow too was calm as he helped his wife give birth, an experience he called was actually a “piece of cake.”
The baby was born healthy and with no complications.
He said, “I was poised, the dispatcher was poised. It was a tremendous experience.”
The “experience” has brought the family and the dispatcher close and she’s now considered a part of the family. Dow, his wife Tenesha, and their 3-year-old daughter went over to the dispatch center in Camarillo so they could meet her. The parents, and their new 3-week-old son, Supreme Dow, Jr., embraced the dispatcher who helped bring him into the world.
“She spoke with conviction, with authority. But more importantly, she sounded like she knew what she was doing, like she’d been through this a million times,” Dow said.
The couple had planned to have their baby delivered at home and called 911 just as Dow saw the top of his son’s head. Although they were only on the phone talking to each other for a a few minutes, he is forever thankful to the “poised” dispatcher that could.
“Because of her, I have a phenomenal story to tell,” Dow said.
Featured image via GladWire
