Marcela Patel knew the complications that came with having a high-risk pregnancy.
The 35-year-old experienced it during her first pregnancy, when her daughter was born at 30 weeks.
“It’s always been a part of my thought process that we would have the baby early. I never thought it would happen this way,” says Patel. “With our first child, we had a warning. My water broke. We got to the hospital in a timely fashion and have the baby in due time. With this one, I had a pain, I had a reaction and I had a baby.”
Marcela immediately called 911. An operator guided her with the steps she needed to take to prepare for birth.
Luckily, that’s when paramedics arrived to help.
“Because he was 33 weeks, he was little so where it takes two or three contractions to get the baby out, she pushed once, and the head was out and the rest just followed,” says Lt. Celia Garrett.
During her decades-long career as a paramedic, Marrett has delivered two premature babies, but Aahri Patel was the first one that lived.
It's what made the selfie they snapped after his birth extra special.
“The two preemies that I delivered that didn't survive were before I had my child,” says Marrett. “Now, that I have mine and I know that mine didn't go smoothly. I know I was lucky to have a good staff. That makes me want to try more for these parents.”
An unforgettable moment forever remembered with a photo.
“We could never repay them for the levels of comfort they provided,” says Patel.
Little Aahri is currently in the neonatal intensive care unit but is expected to be released in the next few days.
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