RUTLAND, MASS. (WHDH) - A police officer and a paramedic were in the right place at the right time – helping a woman deliver a baby on the side of a road in Rutland during a snowstorm after she realized she would not make it to the hospital in time.
“We had just left the house maybe 10 minutes ago hoping to make it to the hospital,” said Page Pirani, the mother. “I didn’t realize babies could come that fast, so I thought we had time and we did not.”
Rutland police officer John Foster said he was in the area directing traffic at the time.
“The road was real icy. Car spun off the road and so I was there directing traffic when they approached the back of my cruiser on the side of the road,” Foster said.
Pirani and her husband Joseph said they managed to flag Foster down as they were driving by.
“I start coming over, then he starts waving me more like something is going on. So I rush over to him, he tells me immediately, ‘my wife is having a baby, I need an ambulance now,'” Foster said.
Foster said it became quickly apparent that Pirani was not going to make it to the hospital before the baby was born, but an off-duty paramedic who happened to be driving by also stopped to help out.
“I got out of the car and I heard somebody yell, ‘she’s having a baby!'” said Lt. Michael Gleason, a Rutland Fire Department Paramedic.
“It was pretty chaotic there for a few seconds, like trying to get things done and organized. And when Mike came, it was like a shining light,” Foster said.
The two men worked together to deliver the baby, and a short time later, Sullivan Michael Pirani was born on the side of Route 68 – his middle name in honor of the paramedic who helped deliver him.
“You know, within a couple minutes Sullivan arrived, and then I wanna say a minute after that the ambulance was there,” Pirani said. “So it was just perfect timing and that everybody was just so quick and eager to help. We’re just so thankful that everything happened like that to make sure Sullivan was safe and sound.”
Foster said it’s a moment he will never forget.
“Unbelievable, you know, it’s just an amazing event,” he said. “That was so far the best thing in my career.”
Sullivan was born at eight pounds, three ounces. Both he and Pirani are doing well.
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