Hialeah firefighters who made an unexpected delivery when a woman in labor and her husband arrived at their station house are speaking out about the "amazing experience."
The incident happened last Tuesday, when the couple arrived at the parking lot of Hialeah Fire Station No. 9.
Speaking with NBC6 and Telemundo 51 last week, Jose and Jackie Cerna said her water broke at home. But rather than battle rush hour traffic to get to the birthing center, the couple headed to their local fire station.
That's where first responders Luis Fuentes, Capt. Alex Castillo and their team stepped in to assist.
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"Usually, we're able to come up to a scene," Fuentes said. "This time, the scene came to us."
Jackie Cerna said that she was experiencing early-morning contractions and feeling sick. But by the time she got in the car, she knew there were only minutes left before baby James Cerna was going to make his arrival, later referring to the birth as "fast and furious."
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"The mom is the one that should get most of the credit, as she did all the work," Castillo said. "We're just able to use our skills and what we know and help her deliver, bring this baby to this world."
Both Fuentes and Castillo said they had been called to assist with births before, but never in a situation like this, where a car pulled up and a child was delivered from inside the vehicle.
"It was an amazing experience to be able to see life come into this world and hold it in our hands, and everybody leave with a smile on their faces out of something that happened in a parking lot," Castillo said.
Speaking with NBC6 on Monday, Fuentes and Castillo said they had since gone to visit the Cernas, who received additional medical attention at the hospital following last week's delivery and are doing well.
"We actually passed by on Friday, which was the next shift that we worked together, and we took them a gift. We took them a few diapers and a gift for baby James," Castillo said. "They were all thrilled to see us, and obviously happy how everything turned out. This was just one of those calls that highlights what we do as firefighters. We do a lot of things; we fight fires, we take care of chemicals or hazmat calls. Just to be able to bring something like this into a highlight of what we do is great for us and great for the community."
