Peel paramedics say the surprise baby delivery they made en route to a Brampton hospital last week has boosted their morale amid the stress from tackling the COVID-19 pandemic.

The baby was delivered just after 2:20 a.m. Thursday morning.

“It was pretty stressful in the moment,” said Emile Yorke, who took over the delivery from the back of the ambulance with the help of her colleague Cesar Costa.

“Definitely a big sigh of relief once you hear that first cry, and see the baby is OK and the mother is OK. It was pretty remarkable to me. It was surreal — at 2 a.m. in the morning you’re not expecting to have a baby born in your ambulance when you’re on your way to the hospital.”

It was a first for both paramedics involved.

Costa said they weren’t anticipating a quick delivery — when that’s the case they make sure to deliver from the home instead — but Yorke called for him to pull over when they were just two blocks away from the Brampton Civic Hospital.

“Especially right now that we are dealing with all these problems with the coronavirus, having an emergency like this is good. Delivering a baby like that in the ambulance makes you feel good between all this craziness that is happening right now,” Costa said.

The delivery lasted about five minutes, and the whole ordeal between the pickup and birth probably only took about 20 minutes, Yorke said.

The father was also able to help cut the umbilical cord from inside the ambulance.

“He was driving to the hospital and he saw an ambulance pulling over with its lights on the street, so he decided to stop and he came inside,” Costa told the Star.

The baby was healthy, and there were no complications with the mother either.

Brad Bowie, Peel paramedics spokesperson, declined to reveal the parents’ names citing “personal health information.”

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Miriam Lafontaine is a breaking news reporter, working out of the Star's radio room in Toronto. Follow her on Twitter: @mirilafontaine

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