911 operator guides woman through baby`s birth
Dec. 04--A Gaston County 911 telecommunicator helped talk a woman through the birth of her granddaughter this week, authorities say.
The series of events began shortly before 4:30 p.m. Monday, when Catrina Love of Gaston County's 911 Communications Center received a call from a woman who said her daughter was about to give birth.
The woman said she had taken her daughter to the hospital earlier Monday and that her daughter had started dilating. But, the woman said, hospital officials sent the mother-to-be home, telling her to return when her water broke.
By 4:30 p.m., it was too late to reach the hospital.
Love immediately dispatched an ambulance to the women's address but also used the Emergency Medical Dispatch system available to all 911 operators to help with the birth.
In the 911 tape, Love and the pregnant woman's mother can be heard several times trying to encourage the mother-to-be.
Near the end of the 5 1/2-minute tape, the pregnant woman's mother says, "It's out, it's out!"
Once the baby had been delivered, Love tells the grandmother and mother, "Congratulations."
The ambulance arrived moments after the baby was born.
Gaston County 911 Director Lloyd Moskowitz said the mother, who was not identified, and her newborn daughter are doing fine.
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