Emergency call taker helps coach woman through childbirth

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) — An emergency dispatch call taker in Louisville helped coach a woman through childbirth when the expectant mother wasn’t able to make it to the hospital in time.

The emergency agency spokeswoman says the woman delivered a boy Wednesday morning on the side of a highway. Jody Duncan, with the Louisville Emergency Management Agency, says both baby and mother are doing fine.

Duncan says the baby was warm and cooing when emergency workers arrived shortly after the birth.

She says the call taker stayed on the phone with the family for nearly a half-hour.

Duncan says the recent heavy snow that fell in the area did not contribute to the family being unable to reach the hospital in time.

Duncan says it’s far from the first time emergency officials talked women through births.