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Baby born outside gas station

Fire chief Gresley-Jones said it was definitely a first for Christina Lake Fire Rescue.
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A pregnant woman and ended up helping her give birth in back seat of her car at the Tempo Gas Station at Christina Lake.

There was plenty of excitement at Christina Lake this past weekend and it wasn’t all during Winterfest. Christina Lake firefighters responded to a call from a pregnant woman and ended up helping her give birth in back seat of her car at the Tempo Gas Station at the Lake.

Ken Gresley-Jones, Christina Lake Fire Rescue chief, told the Gazette they got a call from 9-1-1 at 5:57 a.m. on Feb. 2 and attended shortly after.

“What happened was the people were on their way to Nelson to have the baby and they made it to the long, straight stretch on the highway before Paulsen Bridge,” he recalled. “She said, ‘I’m not gonna make it. Let’s head back.’ They got as far as the Tempo and they called 9-1-1. We showed up and, well, she had the baby!”

Gresley-Jones said it was definitely a first for Christina Lake Fire Rescue. He’s just glad everything went well and the baby is a healthy boy.

“It’s our first delivery,” he said. “It went fine. You always worry about what if. But if everything is right it’s one of the most natural things there is. This one was and thank God. You don’t want complications with something like that. It’s just too precious a time to have problems and we didn’t. It was great.”

Gresley-Jones said the department had an emergency childbirth kit which they used. B.C. Ambulance paramedics showed up on scene shortly after the baby was born.

“The delivery took place by the mom and one of our first responders,” he said. “It’s a first. It went well. They were fairly calm.”

For the mother, it was not her first—something that Gresley-Jones was very thankful for. He said the couple, who are from Grand Forks, was very calm, especially considering the circumstances.

When they first arrived on the scene, Gresley-Jones asked the mother how far along she was. “She said, ‘I’m delivering,’” he recalled.

Gresley-Jones said they talked about opening the Tempo station to give them more room. “There was no time for that,” he said. “The baby was coming.

“There’s not much else to say—it all went well like it’s supposed to,” said Gresley-Jones. “It was cool being a part of it and I’m really glad it all went well. That kind of thing doesn’t happen everyday. It was a heck of a way to start the day.”

Mom and baby were taken by ambulance to Boundary Hospital in Grand Forks just as a precaution.