State Trooper Delivers Baby Near Mass. General Hospital
BOSTON (CBS) - A State Trooper working a detail at Charles Circle in Boston found himself doing more than just directing traffic on Friday morning.
Around 5:15 a.m., an SUV pulled up to where Trooper Michael Close was working, and someone signaled for help.
The couple in the vehicle, Andrew and Heidi Cheerman, had raced in from Sharon, and they were a just a few hundred yards away from Massachusetts General Hospital, where Mrs. Cheerman was hoping to give birth. But, they were not going to make it.
"I could feel her, she was already coming out," said mom Heidi Cheerman. "I literally opened the door, took my pants off and laid down on the curb. I delivered our baby on the sidewalk."
Trooper Close says the baby's head was already out and he ran back to his car to grab a medical bag with towels and blankets.
"I told her the baby looks alright and that I'm going to need one good push. She gave one good push and the baby came out," said Close.
WBZ NewsRadio 1030's Carl Stevens reports
State Trooper Delivers Baby Near Mass. General Hospital
Heidi Cheerman says it all happened so fast, and she was thinking about the health and well-being of her daughter when she ordered her husband to pull over.
"When she let out a cry I knew everything was going to be okay," said Andrew Cheerman.
EMS arrived on scene and transported the baby girl, named Alanna Juliet, and mom to the hospital, where both are said to be doing fine.
Trooper Close was invited to visit with the family at the hospital Friday afternoon.
There he said he gets annual training for medical emergencies he might encounter on the road, but this was his first baby delivery in fourteen years on the job.
A father of two children, he says when his own kids were born he paid extra attention to the delivery process thinking it could come in handy on the job someday.
"My wife and I have had two children ourselves. And I've told my wife before 'I want to pay attention in case this ever happens, because we're the first responders,'" Trooper Close told WBZ NewsRadio 1030's Carl Stevens.
"I paid enough attention to help out," he added.
Heidi Cheerman says it was the most "natural" delivery, and the nurses commented she had pebbles on her when EMT's brought her to the hospital.
"It was so amazing and so fast and so unbelievable that it happened," she said.
She says it's a story Alanna Juliet will be hearing for years to come.
WBZ-TV's Beth Germano contributed to this report. Follow her on Twitter @BethWBZ.
MORE LOCAL NEWS FROM CBS BOSTON
