Newborn Makes Special Delivery for the Holiday

It was an extreme way to come into the world--coached by an Orange County Fire Authority dispatcher, urged on by a motel manager, caught and swaddled by a fire captain and driven, on a firetruck, to the hospital.

But one month before she was expected, 6-pound, 1-ounce Alexzandra Extreme Reagan surprised her parents, Scott and Pam, Thursday by appearing at 10:37 a.m.--only 45 minutes after her mother felt a first twinge at the Dana Villa Motel.

The motel manager, Debbie Pounds, said Scott Reagan asked to borrow her car because his wife was in labor. But by the time Reagan returned to the motel room, it was too late. Pounds called 911 while the motel receptionist and another tenant tried to make Pam Reagan comfortable.

On the other end of the line was dispatcher Vailani Perreira, 33, who told Pounds what to do.

“First thing I tell people is don’t panic and to basically try to keep the mother calm,” said Perreira, who coached someone else in a similar circumstance five years ago.

“Then, if the mother can feel pushing and straining, and the baby’s head is beginning to show, I tell them to grab some clean towels and position the mother on the bed.”

Pam Reagan was calm, Pounds said. But everyone else was on edge.

“The phone line was crackling and the girls were running around yelling for someone to get towels, and we’re right off Doheny State Park so there was all kind of noise from there too,” Pounds said.

Alexzandra’s head was showing and Perreira was telling Debbie how to catch the baby just when paramedics rushed in.

Capt. Thor Swanson of Engine 29 arrived just before Alexzandra, and caught her while Firefighter Scott Belshe clamped her umbilical cord.

“The head had already been delivered when I arrived,” Swanson said. “We suctioned the mouth and nose and moments later I got the pleasure of catching the kid.”

Swanson, who has been a paramedic for 15 years, said it was a first for him. “I always seem to be the one that does the paperwork and takes notes at the scene, so this was my very first catch.”

“It was quite a neat deal,” he said. “It wasn’t very messy, the delivery wasn’t hard, and baby wasn’t distressed at all. It’s 15 years since I learned how to deliver a baby and the first one I got to do was textbook simple.”

The Reagans declined to be interviewed, but like Swanson, Pounds said Alexzandra’s birth made this Thanksgiving special.

“We all get wrapped up in our lives and what’s going wrong when all around us miracles are happening,” Pounds said. “I’m sure glad I had a chance to experience that. What a nice Thanksgiving, what a treat. What an experience.”