Home baby delivery a happy surprise for Silverton family

SILVERTON — Barbara Ellsworth had considered giving birth at home before, but the plan was never to have baby No. 5 be a home delivery. She would have been happy to just be prepared with more notice that the baby was coming and have her midwife as well as her husband, Cody Ellsworth, by her side.

Having time to prepare was not in the cards last week, however, when baby Lionel Ellsworth decided to surprise the whole family by coming into the world a little earlier than expected.

Based on past pregnancies, the Ellsworths knew that they needed to be quick with getting to the hospital when their baby boy was ready to arrive. However, that wasn’t to be the case and Barbara was woken suddenly when she started having contractions. As she bent down to tie her shoes to get ready to go to the hospital, her water broke.

“It was very dramatic. This one was very fast. I was only in labor for an hour. Five contractions, that’s all it took,” Barbara said.

When her water broke, it was clear that the clock was ticking and that they needed to call 911 and potentially shift priorities to home delivery rather than giving birth in transit.

“I got on my birthing ball, trying to breathe and relax,” Barbara said.

District One Fire Chief John Miller called the emergency home birth an “extremely rare” event for the Shoshone County paramedic staff and said that it usually turns out to just be complications or early contractions with no immediate birth.

“I’ve been a part of the fire service for over 12 years and this has happened twice, the other being a childbirth in a vehicle at the post office in Silverton,” Miller said.

District One Paramedic Melanie Shelton had the day off and was relaxing when she got the call that a baby was coming now and that she was the closest female paramedic in the vicinity.

“I was at home and was having a lazy morning with the family. My husband is in law enforcement and I do this, so we’re used to kinda running out the door. They actually live right around the corner from me, so I grabbed some gloves and went,” Shelton said.

She was told as soon as she arrived that the baby was only moments away, and so Barbara was brought to the bathroom and she and the Ellsworths prepared to welcome little Lionel into the world.

“We train for emergencies, but usually there’s enough time to get them to the hospital. There wasn’t a whole lot of time to think. The baby was right there, the mom had one more contraction and the dad held her up and I caught the baby,” Shelton said.

There were no complications, but Shelton counseled that having access to the medical equipment available at the hospital is always preferable for everyone’s safety.

Mom and baby were cleaned up and made comfortable before making their way to their doctor to confirm that everyone was healthy following the birth. The following day, Shelton, Miller and other paramedics stopped by to bring sandwiches to the family and make sure everyone was doing well.

“We’re very lucky, you’re in a very delicate situation. I was so grateful, everybody showed up to help, but she (Melanie Shelton) showed up just in time. Everybody was so helpful and fast and it was a lot nicer to be attended here at home,” Barbara said.

She said that if anyone else should find themselves in a similar position, they should call emergency services and just try to stay calm and concentrate on breathing. Cody credited the District One response team for their promptness and that it was a relief to have well-trained staff show up to support their family when they needed them the most.

“It’s nice to know that when things go wrong, they'll be there,” Cody said.