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Baby boy’s birth warms hearts on icy Boulder Turnpike

Bill Scanlon
Rocky Mountain News
Boulder, CO Colorado

BOULDER, Colorado ” It was 2 degrees outside, the car was out of gas and mom was in labor.

So, Westminster firefighters turned into obstetricians Monday night on the shoulder of U.S. 36.

Cassandra Garcia and her new baby boy Daniel are both doing fine after she gave birth in an ambulance rather than in the comfort of a maternity ward, Westminster Fire Department spokeswoman Diana Allen said.



Maybe it’s the looming economic stimulus package, maybe it’s the wind, but babies just can’t wait to be born these days in metro Denver. A baby was born Tuesday on the first floor of the main Denver Public Library.

Garcia knew it was time, and was on the way to the hospital when she ran out of gas, Allen said. Garcia called 911 at 11:19 p.m. Monday, saying she was in active labor.

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Westminster Fire Department crews reached her car six minutes later near U.S. 36 and Church Ranch Boulevard.

“We were about to transport her (to a local hospital) when she told us, ‘No, this is happening now,'” paramedic Jack Lieser said. “So we had to make a decision.”

They were very worried about the cold, but equally worried about the icy road conditions, so the crew from Fire Station No. 2 decided to deliver the baby right there.

They set up a makeshift birthing room inside the ambulance and cranked up the heat.

“As soon as he was delivered he let out a loud cry letting everyone know he was here,” Lieser said. “It was pretty exciting. It was the first field delivery for many of the firefighters.”


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