HIGHLAND CITY, Fla. — A Highland City family is celebrating a brand-new addition, thanks in part to the help of Polk County Fire Rescue crews.
One-week-old Theodore Hartl is the calmest newborn a parent could ask FOR.
“He’s just a very quiet baby, as you can see, he will sleep this entire time,” said Kaylee Hartl.
WATCH: Family reunited with Polk County Fire Rescue crew that delivered baby
Quite different than how baby Theodore came into the world. Kaylee and Marquise Hartl planned to have a peaceful home birth surrounded by family to welcome their fourth child. On August 19, that plan suddenly fell apart.
“I called my midwife, and I said OK, I know I’m in active labor, so you need to come, but she’s an hour and a half away from us, so I thought I would have enough time,” Kaylee said.
Fifteen minutes after that call, her water broke. With the midwife nowhere near, panic began to set in.
“Her water breaks and at this point [panic] through the roof. We’re freaking out. We're trying to lay her down. Someone says call 911,” Marquise said.
“It was nerve-wracking more than anything just to be doing it without the midwife there because I know I'm not knowledgeable enough to know everything I'm supposed to be looking for,” said Kaylee.
Polk County Fire Rescue team firefighter/paramedic George Gibson, along with firefighter/EMTS Madison Bennett and Daniel Banks, arrived at the home just after 9:30 a.m.
"I was thinking we’re going to take a nice easy ride and she’s going to have the baby in the hospital,” said Gibson.
When the crew arrived, they quickly realized there was no time to spare; this baby was on the way. They quickly jumped into action.
“They opened the door, and I could hear the mom screaming. That's when it kicked in, like this is happening right now. We get a lot of pregnancy calls when they get contractions and stuff, but this was the first time where it was like as soon as the door opened, you could hear mom screaming and it was like, OK it’s go time,” said Bennett.
The crew worked quickly, delivering the baby in the living room within four minutes of arriving at the Hartl's home.
“After the baby was born, it gave a nice full-throated cry. Then Mr. Theodore said, I’m good for a little bit. I'm just going to hang out,” said Gibson.
On Thursday, the family was reunited for the first time with the Polk County Fire Rescue team that assisted them in delivering baby Theodore.
“We just believe people are put into your life during certain times, for certain moments on purpose, and I believe this was a group of people that was sent to us on purpose, because of the way they handled everything,” Marquise said.
Firefighters say few calls are as rewarding as helping bring new life into the world.
“To be a part of somebody else's miracle, to be honored and invited in, it’s very rewarding,” said Gibson.
“We give people that opportunity to really learn those lessons from the holocaust, to hear from survivors, to be able to see physical evidence.”
Tampa Bay 28 reporter Casey Albritton visited the soon-to-be reopened Florida Holocaust Museum
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