29°
"Elizabeth" is an homage to her mom Charlotte Fatoma's grandmother, whom she says is beautiful, kind and caring.
The baby's middle name is after the 911 dispatcher, Elyce Rivera, who coached Fatoma through the entire delivery over the phone on the side of Pennsylvania's Interstate 476 in late October.
Fatoma and her baby met Rivera for the first time early this week on the "Today Show." There, Fatoma asked Rivera -- whom she describes as being "patient, kind and angelic -- to be her new daughter's godmother.
"There were a lot of tears," Fatoma, of Ridley Park, told Daily Voice.
Rivera had finished her training with the Montgomery County Department of Public Safety Department on Sept. 24.
On Oct. 27, she got the call from Fatoma, who was in the throes of intense labor contractions as she drove herself to Riddle Hospital along the Blue Route.
"I was working my night shift and around 5 a.m., I started to feel a little cramping," said Fatoma, a hospice nurse who has two other children.
"Nothing too severe. I didn't think they were labor contractions because I wasn't crying. But I decided to end my shift and head to the hospital because my due date was Oct. 31."
As she began driving, the contractions became more intense and more frequent. The traffic was bad too, but still, Fatoma thought she'd make it to Riddle Hospital in time to deliver her baby.
It wasn't long before Fatoma realized, she might not make it in time.
She called her husband, no answer. She called the doctor at her practice on call, no help.
Then, Fatoma called 911. Rivera picked up.
Through her panicked breaths, Fatoma did her best to describe her location and her situation.
"'My name is Charlotte, I'm driving to Riddle and I think I'm in labor,'" she told the dispatcher.
Rivera pleaded with Fatoma to pull over and eventually, the mom-to-be found a spot on the side of the highway.
She could feel every truck that passed her, causing her car to shake as she undressed from the waist down.
At Rivera's instruction, Fatoma laid her seat as far back as it would go and scooted to the edge. She propped her left foot out the window and her right over the dash, and listened to the calm and patient voice on the other end.
"Breathe. Take it easy. Stay calm," Rivera told Fatoma. "You're okay. You're going to deliver this baby.
"Breathe between contractions -- that's how you're going to push her out."
Fatoma knew the ambulance probably wasn't going to reach her in time. And so, she listened and did as Rivera said.
"First the head is going to come out, and I'm going to need you to use your left arm to support her neck and head. Do not rush the labor, do not pull her," the dispatcher said.
"Let her come on her own. She’s very fragile you have to take your time support her neck."
And that's when Fatoma felt her baby's head, she said. Then would come the body.
"Don't rush her, just push slightly," the dispatcher said. "Push really hard while you're still supporting her. Hold her real nice. Slow it down."
Fatoma pushed one more time and the baby was nearly there.
"The wind hit her and she started to cry, that's when Elyce had a big sigh," Fatoma said.
The mom wrapped her baby in her sweatpants and laid her on her stomach, the umbilical cord still attached. All they could do was wait for help.
"I was in so much pain but I just looked at her and said, 'This baby, she's so cute,'" Fatoma said. "I was just happy I was alive and relieved she was breathing."
Seconds later, she looked in her rearview mirror and saw several police cars. The new mom and her baby were taken in two separate ambulances to the hospital, where they received the care they needed.
That's where Fatoma decided to give her baby her full name.
"When I found out I was having a girl I wanted to name her after grandmother -- but she never had a middle name," Fatoma said. "My mom wanted a middle name but I wanted the name to stand."
After speaking with Rivera, though, Fatoma had a reason to give her daughter a second name. And she loves it, she said.
"We love Elyce," Fatoma said. "This lady has so much patience. I don't know she she can stay calm in a situation like that.
"It takes a special kind of person to do what she does. I told her I’m blessed. I’m happy I called the right place at the right time."
Providing medical instructions to 9-1-1 callers is something dispatchers are trained in and perform on a daily basis, said Rivera's supervisor, Kate Burfete of the Emergency Communications Division Supervisor for the Montgomery County Department of Public Safety.
"However, assisting a mother to independently deliver her baby on the side of a highway within a month of being certified as a calltaker is a significant accomplishment,” Burfete said.
“Elyce did a wonderful job connecting with Charlotte and relying on her training to assist Charlotte in successfully delivering her baby. I could not be happier for Elyce and appreciate that she has been given the opportunity to meet Charlotte and Baby Elizabeth and experience the positive impact the call has had on all of their lives.”
"She made everything positive," Fatoma added. "Everything that could’ve went left, went right. I was finally able to meet her and show her the baby she helped deliver. I call her 'My doctor.' It was an emotional moment.
"We were connected and she got to hold the baby. I got to tell her the name, and she was excited for that."
Click here to follow Daily Voice York and receive free news updates.
