Oh, baby!

By BRIAN WALKER

Staff Writer

ATHOL — It was the first day of spring, and Charlotte Dawn Hays sprung, all right.

Jennifer Felts’ baby girl arrived last Wednesday in a non-traditional place — in the back of a Timberlake Fire Protection District ambulance en route to Kootenai Health.

Felts said she never imagined that would be the place she would deliver a child, but Charlotte's arrival nine days before her due date dictated otherwise.

"I have this thing about ambulances and not getting into one because it's embarrassing," Felts told The Press with a laugh.

But that scenario became reality after a bumpy ride last week near her home on Trails End Road between Athol and the old Careywood Post Office. The morning ride seemed to prompt contractions.

After Felts returned home, she started timing the contractions. It quickly became evident that Charlotte was well on her way.

"My mom (Valerie Felts) said, 'Get in the Jeep. We're going now,'" Jennifer said.

Realizing that they, along with Jennifer's brother Dalton, weren't going to make it to Kootenai Health before the birth, a pit stop at Timberlake's station in Athol blipped on the radar.

Valerie had her boss at the White Pine Cafe in Athol, Gary Fast, call Chief Bill Steele on his cellphone. Steele, who wasn't at the station, in turn alerted staff about the unique and pressing arrival.

"I was just told that a Jeep would be pulling up in front of the station with an imminent child birth, then the guy hung up without telling me who he was," Steele said.

"We were opening the door, and they were there," Lt. Ryan Shuck said.

Jennifer said her water broke in the fire station's parking lot before she was loaded into the ambulance.

Just a few miles down the road, Shuck pulled over at the Silverwood Theme Park exit on U.S. 95 where Charlotte was born. Firefighter/EMT Cory Thatcher assisted with the delivery.

"It happened just that quick — not a lot of warning," Shuck said. "It was an amazing call."

Jennifer said she remembers asking her mom to see if she could receive an epidural to ease the pain, but her mom said such medication wasn't available in ambulances.

"It was a good thing that Charlotte came so fast," Jennifer said.

Emergency responders are trained to assist with births, but it's rare that they actually tend to such calls since most births occur in hospitals or homes. This was Shuck's second such call of his career, and Thatcher's first.

Other Timberlake employees at the Athol station assisted in the delivery of a girl almost exactly a year earlier.

Abigail Morse was born at the station last March 21 to Robert and Leah Morse. Charlotte arrived on March 20 one year later.

Abigail's first birthday was celebrated with Timberlake employees at the station on Saturday, and Jennifer attended the event with Charlotte as well.

"It's interesting that they're both girls," Jennifer said with a smile.

During the event, Jennifer's 5-year-old son, Jacob Mallow, was allowed to go inside the ambulance to see where his baby sister was born.

Jennifer suspects there will be future outings with Timberlake Fire to reminisce about Charlotte's arrival.

"They asked if we'd like to keep in touch," she said, adding that her mom works at the White Pine where the department's employees often have lunch.

Charlotte arrived healthy and weighed in at 7 pounds, 2 ounces. Her father, Christopher Hays, who is Jennifer's fiancé, was at work when she was born, but was anxiously awaiting her arrival at the hospital along with a Kootenai Health team, which was already aware of the "ambulance baby."

"The hospital was abuzz when we arrived," Jennifer said. "I'm not a people person, but when the doors of the ambulance opened, there was this huge crowd."

Jennifer was also hesitant about how public she wanted the special delivery to be, but her mom convinced her.

"She said that it will be a cool story for Charlotte for when she gets older," Jennifer said.