A woman from Pennsylvania finally met the 911 operator who assisted her during childbirth. For the first time, Charlotte Fatoma met 911 dispatcher Elyce Rivera. The two women had a lovely face-to-face meeting. Last month, Fatoma dialed 911 while driving herself to the hospital to deliver her baby, only to discover she was in labor in her car.
Rivera, who had only been on the job for four weeks when she received Fatoma’s call, successfully guided her through the delivery of a healthy baby girl, whom Fatoma named Elizabeth Elyce after the operator.
Fatoma was working as a nurse in an assisted living facility when she started having contractions and decided to go to the hospital. She assumed she would have enough time to make the 40-minute drive as a mother of two children, but when she hit traffic on the way, Fatoma knew she had to call 911. “Once I hit the exit, traffic was so long,” she said. “I’m like, ‘Oh my god, I’m never going to make it there.’ “
Rivera was on the other end of the line and was able to guide her through the procedure. Fatoma was “scared” and “panicking,” according to the dispatcher, but Rivera calmed her down.
Rivera said Fatoma was screaming. “So I told Charlotte that everything she’s feeling, her baby is feeling, and I didn’t want her baby to be distressed, so I kept telling her to ‘Just take deep breaths.'”
Fatoma said she “couldn’t bear it anymore” when her contractions came every two minutes, but Rivera “was very calm” and told her to pull over to the side of the road and prepare to give birth. “She told me to get in the car, move the seat back, push yourself all the way to the edge of the chair, prop myself up with my legs, and make room for that baby,” she explained.
An ambulance arrived on the scene just as Fatoma gave birth to Elizabeth and the baby began to cry. Rivera became teary-eyed as he heard the moment on the other end of the line. Rivera was very emotional. She said that she had to lift her mic up and that her eyes became watery.
When they met, Fatoma asked Rivera if she could be her baby’s godmother to which the 911 operator gladly accepted. “Elyce, the 911 operator, she is an angel in disguise. She was wonderful. She treated me so kind,” the grateful mother said.
Giving birth is one of the most difficult things that a woman has to go through. But such is the blessing of strength that God gives to them. It is difficult enough to give birth supervised by professionals, so giving birth alone on the side of the road is a huge task. But thank God for giving Fatoma the strength and to Rivera the wisdom so that they can pull off a great task. Praise God for the healthy baby that came from that and pray that the baby will grow healthy and with the knowledge that God has been with them even from the start of their life.