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It began with a 911 call received by Public Safety Telecommunicator Stephany Estrada at 10:35 a.m. Oct. 12: A 38-year-old Upper Boulevard resident was in labor, the woman's husband told her.
It was his wife's third pregnancy and the contractions were already close together, he warned.
Estrada had village police, firefighters and EMS at the home in under five minutes. Using 911 emergency guide cards, she assisted the woman's husband until they got there.
Everything happened quickly after that, Fire Chief John T. Judge said.
"As they tried to start moving her, she started crowning and the baby started coming out," the chief said.
They delivered the baby right there on the bathroom floor at 10:48 a.m. -- barely 13 minutes from the time of the husband's call, he said.
Mom, dad and Baby Jacob were soon at The Valley Hospital in Ridgewood, where all three were reportedly doing great.
The responders were in good spirits, as well.
"Everyone worked incredibly well together," Judge said.
Fire Lt. Matt Ramge -- who responded with Firefighters Jason Jacoby, Hank VanWageningen and Dan Steen -- was about to retire without ever having delivered a baby, the fire chief noted.
That changed with the new arrival.
"Nice way to cap a career," Judge said.
At the same time, Village Manager Keith Kazmark said it helped lighten the heavy hearts -- if just a bit -- of the four responding police officers: Rosario Vaccarella, Peter Youngberg, Michael Karcher, and Douglas Busche.
Nine days earlier, he explained, their shift had responded to the death of a recent Ridgewood High School graduate.
SEE: Former Ridgewood Football Player Preston Stott, 18, Dies
"First responders deal with both hard calls and celebratory calls," Kazmark said. "This one made everyone smile."
Judge, the fire chief, agreed.
"Too much of what we do involves a response to something bad that's happened to someone," he said. "This was such good news. It was fantastic."
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