By Elizabeth Evans
The York Dispatch
JACKSON TOWNSHIP, Pa. — An impatient newborn didn’t wait until his mother could get to a hospital. Instead, he entered the world Tuesday night on the couch of a Jackson Township fire station.
A police officer and the deputy fire chief of Nashville Volunteer Fire Co. ended up delivering the baby boy, Northern Regional Lt. David Lash said.
“There was a fire company meeting that night, and there were about 10 people in the room when the child came into the world,” Lash said. “From what we’ve been told, the baby’s doing fine and mom’s fine, too.”
The mother, whose name has not been released, was being driven to York Hospital by a friend when she realized her baby wouldn’t wait, according to Lash. Her water had broken about 6 p.m., he said.
The mother or her friend called 911 and they ended up driving to the Nashville fire station, Lash said, at which point Northern Regional Officer Matthew Chetaitis responded. That call came in at 8:13 p.m., Lash said.
The mother is Hispanic and there was somewhat of a language barrier, according to the lieutenant.
Chetaitis and Deputy Fire Chief Bradley Dunham — a state police trooper at the Loganville barracks — helped the woman onto a couch in the station and realized the baby’s head was crowning, Lash said.
The boy was born moments later, with both Chetaitis and Dunham making the emergency delivery, Lash said.
Mother and child were then taken to York Hospital by ambulance, he said.
By 8:40 p.m., the excitement was over, he said.
“I can’t remember any other officers having to do this in the 18 years I’ve been here,” Lash said, nothing that Chetaitis had no childbirth training.
“Officer Chetaitis showed poise under pressure,” Lash said. “He did an excellent job when faced with a situation he’s not used to handling. His actions were a credit not only to himself, but to the department. Deputy Chief Dunham also rose to the occasion ... and both made sure this was a successful delivery.”
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