Baby born on a Taiwan roadside with help from teachers, paramedics

Taipei, Dec. 10 (CNA) A woman on Tuesday gave birth on the street near a preschool in northeastern Taiwan's Yilan County shortly after returning from her son's field trip, and was aided by several teachers who rushed out after the boy called for help.

Recalling what she said was a shock experience, Lin Chiu-ping (林秋萍), director of the preschool, said on Wednesday that she never imagined a mother would give birth while "standing" by the roadside.

The 30-year-old mother surnamed Chen (陳), who was two weeks shy of her due date, experienced abdominal pain after returning to the preschool from a field trip, prompting her son to run to his teachers for assistance, the United Daily News reported on Wednesday.

Lin hurried to the woman's side, saw that she was pale and unable to move, and quickly summoned the teachers to help, the report said.

Lin recalled that she, then trying to hold back tears, and the other teachers knelt to assist, supporting the baby's head as it was born.

"Its first cry was the most beautiful sound," she said, noting it made her witness both the strength of a mother's love and the miracle of life.

The woman called a taxi when she realized she was going into labor; by the time the driver arrived, the baby had already been born.

Someone called 119 and three paramedics from Yilan County's Fire Bureau were dispatched to the scene after a report was received around 3 p.m. Tuesday, only to find that the baby had already been born, the bureau said on Wednesday.

After assessing that the newborn's vital signs were stable, with a heart rate of about 180 beats per minute, and that the mother was fully conscious, the paramedics helped them into the ambulance, clamped the umbilical cord, suctioned the baby's mouth and nose, wrapped him to keep him warm, and then returned him to his mother, the bureau said.

Wu Chun-han (吳俊翰), one of the paramedics, said he felt very fortunate to have been part of welcoming the newborn into the world.

Wu said that, assisting in an emergency birth for the first time, he was able to apply the delivery skills he had learned in training and felt that his preparation had finally paid off.