FORT BRAGG, N.C. - On Sept. 16, a Fort Bragg Soldier and his Family met the 911 dispatcher who coached the father via phone as his wife delivered their daughter in the bathroom of their home.
Fort Bragg 911 emergency call dispatcher, Beth Bivins walked a frantic Spc. Nathan Perez, a paralegal with Headquarters and Headquarters Battery, 18th Fires Brigade, through the delivery of the new addition to the Perez Family.
The Guam native and his wife, Jenna, were at their home on Fort Bragg when she went into labor with the couple's third daughter. Nathan had just returned from that physical training that morning to find his youngest daughter crying and his oldest daughter telling him that "mommy's tummy hurts." That is when Nathan called 911.
At first it was it was hard to understand him, Bivins recounts. "I had to have him repeat himself a few times. He kept saying he was on Fort Lee," she adds. Fort Lee is located in Virginia, Perez previous duty assignment. The baby's birth happened about 30 seconds after the Perez called 911, Beth explains.
Tense moments came shortly after the birth however when the baby girl stopped breathing. I told him he needed to make the baby cry to make sure it was breathing, Bivins said.
"By that time the paramedics showed up," said Nathan. National Academy of Emergency Medical Dispatch protocol, Bivins was able to successfully calm the father and get the information the first responders needed.
This was the first time 14-year dispatch veteran had helped deliver a baby.
"I was floating on air," said Bivins.
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