SALT LAKE CITY, UT — It’s a birth story one family won’t soon forget. The delivery room was inside the family truck, and that wasn’t the only challenge.
Kristin and Shay Allred called 911 on the way to the hospital. Kristen says she realized this wasn’t like her other three labors that took about eight hours.
It was nearly 2am on the 18th, and Kristen said she knew they weren’t going to make it in time.
“I mean, we joke, ‘Oh you’re going to get a pregnancy call,’ and then it actually happens. You train for it, and then here we are. I really wasn’t expecting it. But you’ve got to be ready for it. It’s 911,” 911 dispatch operator William Kalaher told KUTV.
Even though this was their fourth child. This labor was anything but typical.
William talked the couple through the process, but after baby Anne came out, there was a problem -she wasn’t breathing.
Shay said, “At first she came out and she cried. And then she just went limp.”
Anne had the umbilical cord wrapped around her neck.
William guided Shay in the 911 call saying, “I need you to take a string–a shoelace, possibly–and tie it tightly around the umbilical chord about 6 inches from the baby. I need you to do it now and tell me when it’s done.”
Baby Anne started breathing about 30 seconds later, five minutes before help arrived.
Mother and baby were taken to the hospital and released a few days later.
The couple is so thankful for the help of William, who they credit with saving Anne’s life.
“He definitely helped us stay calm in the fact of helping her breathe, because that was just terrifying,” said Kristin.
