OTTAWA COUNTY, Mich. — A young dispatcher in Ottawa County helped a family through one of the biggest moments of their lives, as a woman gave birth at home, in the middle of the night with only her husband there to help.
Saturday, Nov. 27 was just like any other day on the job for rookie dispatcher Carl Eefsting. That is, until a panicked call came in around 3:30 in the morning.
"A man said my wife is about to give birth, and that's when it all got started," Eefsting recalled.
Eefsting has only been on the job with the Ottawa County Central Dispatch Authority for about a year and a half, and said he's never had a call like this one.
"Please hurry, please hurry," the man said over the 911 call. "Help is coming, sir," Eefsting calmly responded.
"There's really no time to panic," said Eefsting, "you just have to do it because time is of the essence."
"That moment is when your adrenaline kicks in, you remember your training, you remember the protocols that you have to follow, and you do what you have to do," he added.
During the more than 10 minute call, Eefsting remained calm, walking the husband through step by step until first responders could arrive.
"Can you see any part of the baby?" Eefsting asked over the phone. "Yes, yes I can," responded the worried husband.
Eefsting advised him to get some clean, dry towels and blankets to keep nearby. And then about seven minutes into the call, a baby girl was born.
"There was a point when the baby was reported to not be breathing, and I just remember in the back of my head thinking 'not today Lord,' Eefsting said.
Eefsting calmly walked the husband through cleaning off the baby and wiping out her mouth.
"You and your wife are doing a great job," Eefsting reassured them over the phone, "help is almost there."
"When the baby started crying on the other end, it was just an absolute blessing to be able to hear just before the line disconnected," he said.
After the new parents and their baby were with first responders, Eefsting sat back and says he felt an overwhelming sense of relief, and pride. Pride that was also felt by the dispatch's executive director, Pete McWatters.
"He did a phenomenal job," McWatters said. "I'm proud of what he did, and I'm proud of what our employees do every day."
"In our line of work you get exposed to so much suffering and pain and evil that a lot of people start to wonder if that's all that's really out there," said Eefsting.
But the young dispatcher said this experience and this family helped prove to him that there is joy in the world too.
"I've been praying for them and their baby," he said, "and it's such a blessing to every once in a while have this rare experience to not only participate in something as miraculous as childbirth, but to also be able to play a vital role and help someone. And that's just something I'm going to be grateful for forever."
Pete McWatters said that since the end of the call, they have not had any contact with the family.
"We would normally not reach out to them for any reason and we have not, nor will we," he explained. "We respect their privacy and that's why we're not releasing any names or locations or anything like that, but we can still celebrate what happened."
Editor's note: 13 ON YOUR SIDE did obtain the entire 911 call from the Ottawa County Central Dispatch Authority, but out of respect for the family and the sensitivity of the situation, we decided not to publish it to our website.
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