San Diego

Newborn Meets Firefighters Who Delivered Him

Firefighters successfully delivered a newborn with the umbilical cord wrapped around his neck during an early morning call four months ago.

On Wednesday, the healthy newborn and his family stopped by San Diego Fire Station 12 to visit the crew and express their appreciation.

Timothy Matthew Fleming was dressed in a firefighter onesie as he posed for photos with his parents Shana and Matthew Fleming and his 4-year-old big sister Zoey.

It was on May 26 that San Diego Fire-Rescue crews were called to the family’s home in the area of 56th Street and 56th Place in Emerald Hills at 5:30 a.m. and helped deliver Timothy.

Shana woke up that morning with pain but when she called labor and delivery, she was told to give it some time. While she prepared for a stay in the hospital, Shana said her water broke in her bedroom.

“I can’t move. We’re not going anywhere,” she recalls telling her husband. “If I get out of this house to the car, it’s going to happen in the car.”

Her husband, Matthew Fleming, called 911 and the SDFD crew arrived within minutes and safely helped deliver the baby, despite the umbilical cord being wrapped around the child's neck.

In his 18 years as a paramedic, SDFD Capt. Antonio David has delivered his share of babies.

“Not very often that they’ll actually deliver,” he said. “A lot of times we’ll get them loaded up and they’ll deliver in the hospital.”

He appreciated the chance to see the newborn in person.

“It's kind of neat to see them, especially when it's a newborn delivery, you see the child four months now I believe, three, four months later," he said.

The firefighters had just trained on labor and delivery, David said.

Shana got a bit emotional when she was describing the delivery.

"I just wanted to come and say thank you to the first responders that helped us bring him safely," she told David.

SDFD Chief Brian Fennessy thanked the family for reaching out to the department in a written news release. He described the event as another heart-warming story of SDFD crews helping out a family in an emergency situation.

Timothy will be four months old next week. The family took lots of pictures to share this reunion with him when he gets older.

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