Oh baby: Genoa-Kingston paramedics help couple deliver first child

GENOA – Genoa-Kingston paramedics and the parents of newborn Eleanor Lee Altepeter-Knotts are celebrating good health and happiness after emergency responders helped Eleanor come into the world unexpectedly fast in the back of an ambulance.

A week ago, the new parents stopped by the fire station – with newborn in tow – to thank those, including student paramedic Haley Stevenson, who helped birth their baby.

Within minutes of being in labor, Sammie Altepeter gave birth to her first child, Eleanor Lee Altepeter-Knotts, at 6:20 p.m. Sept. 29 in an ambulance on the side of Five Points Road inside Sycamore township. Eleanor Lee, now 1 month old, was five and a half pounds, and seventeen and half inches long when she was born.

“I was told I was very spicy, swearing and screaming and yelling at everybody, but I honestly couldn’t have asked for better people to help me out, because at the moment that I was supposed to push the rest of her out I panicked,” the new mom said. “[Stevenson], I was holding her hand and I looked up at her, and just told her, ‘I can’t do this. [Husband] Brodie’s not here, my mom’s not here,’ and she just held my hand and was like, ‘You’ve got this,’ and that’s kind of what got me to feel less alone.”

Brodie Knotts, the father and Altepeter’s fiancé, hopped in Altepeter’s car when she was taken in the ambulance from their Kingston home toward Northwestern Medicine Kishwaukee Hospital in DeKalb. The gas light in his car was on, however.

Not wanting to miss anything, he decided to risk it. He missed the delivery of his son.

Knotts was following the ambulance down Five Points Road when he saw the vehicle pullover just north of Old State Road in Sycamore township. He parked a few car lengths behind and talked with Altepeter’s parents over the phone, giving them a play-by-play of what was happening with their daughter.

Minutes later, the ambulance driver, Chase Akers, got out and walked the 10 meters along the side of the road to Knotts, devliering news that would forever change Knotts’ life.

“I was like, ‘Wait a minute. They’re pulling over,’” Knotts said of his conversation with Altepeter’s parents. “I sat in the road for a minute and then all of the sudden he [Akers] comes running out and is like, ‘Hey man, do you want to come meet your daughter?’ Just instantly tunnel vision. ... It felt like the slowest walk of my life, up to that ambulance, and I got to the door. I wasn’t even sad or anything. ... Tears started rolling down my face.”

The last time he’d seen his fiancée she was screaming in pain. When Knotts entered the ambulance, she introduced him to their daughter.

Alicia Dimova, a firefighter and paramedic; Daniel Barrett, an EMT and paramedic, and Stevenson were in the back of the ambulance with Altepeter for the birth. It was the first time any of them had ever delivered a baby.

Barrett said they instructed the driver to pull over when he saw Altepeter-Knotts’ head crowing.

“I told her to push until the head delivered,” Barrett said. “Alicia grabbed the shoulder, kind of angled her so the baby could finish delivering. I clamped the cord, we suctioned the nose and mouth so it started crying and breathing, and cut the cord and gave the baby to the mom so she could stay warm.”

Dimova said she’d had two close calls with mothers going into labor. That day in September was a first for everyone, however.

“Honestly, I think we’re just conditioned to fall back on our training when things get really intense, so that’s what we did. But once the baby was out we were just flooded with ‘This is the coolest thing,’ type of emotion,” Dimova said. “Everybody did great, mom and baby were awesome, so it was a good experience.”

Stevenson said she’s never had a close call, so it was her first experience in a situation of the sort.

“You do what you’re trained to do,” she said. “And yeah, once the baby was delivered it was just emotions. It was very exciting, and the mom was ecstatic.”

On Nov. 1, Genoa-Kingston Fire Chief Bruce Kozlowski presented the parents and first responders on the call with plaques commemorating the ordeal. He said this was the third time the department has ever assisted in childbirth.

For her part in the big day, Altepeter-Knotts was given a Genoa-Kingston Fire Department onesie.

“It’ll actually fit her,” Altepeter-Knotts said. “She just started fitting in newborns. She was a preemie.”