Paramedic born in ambulance delivers baby in ambulance on his birthday

A Maryland paramedic was born in an ambulance 42 years ago. Monday, on his birthday, he helped deliver a baby -- in an ambulance.

Daniel Helsel was responding to a call from a woman who was in labor, WTTG reported.

“We had a pretty good inkling that it was going to happen soon,” Helsel said, “and we wanted to get her out of the apartment and down the steps before it happened. We got about halfway down the stairs when she stopped and started to push. We had to gently remind her we needed to get her somewhere sanitary. So we were able to get her to the ambulance and onto the stretcher, and we could see the top of the baby’s head. That baby was not going to wait.”

Seconds later, a healthy baby girl was delivered.

Helsel’s parents said they had a similar experience when their son was born, WTTG reported.

“We get on the Beltway and he says ‘You are going to have to pull over because the baby is going to come,’” Jesse Helsel told WTTG. “As soon as that ambulance comes to a stop – I don’t even think it was fully stopped – the side door opens. A state trooper – our son’s guardian angel – comes in. He doesn’t say a word. He assists with the birth and then he leaves.”

“I only had five contractions,” Nancy Helsel told WTTG. “In 15 minutes, he was born.”

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