EMT Abraham Ivri started working at MDA about a month ago. His wife Reut, who was 9 months pregnant feared that when she went into labour her husband would be on duty.
On Saturday night she went into labour, and as she had feared husband was on shift. In a race against the clock Abraham arrived just in time to deliver his 6th daughter. This was the first birth Abraham performed as an EMT with MDA
Abraham immediately called MDA to dispatch the ambulance crew closest to their home and senior EMT MDA volunteer, Mati Karmi and Orit Ohana, an MDA volunteer paramedic and family friend, were called. The team arrived at Reut’s home and after an initial assessment, began evacuating her to the hospital.
After a few minutes, Abraham left his shift and hurried to the hospital, where along the way he was updated by Orit, who was providing medical treatment to Reut. Moments before arriving at the hospital, the birth began to reach its crucial stages and the ambulance was forced to stop on the side of the road. Moments later, Reut was giving birth! Abraham arrived just in time and jumped into the ambulance to assist his wife.
The excited father recalled: “I have been on maternity alert for two weeks now and trying to calculate the shifts and I am always attached to my phone. This week it happened, and I immediately spoke to MDA and Orit to help my wife. I was able to quickly find a replacement at work and drove to the hospital, intending to arrive even before the birth. Happily, I arrived just as the girl was starting out, and I actually did my first birth in the organisation – when the woman giving birth was my wife. It was stressful and exciting together – both because it was a first birth, medically I wanted to make sure everything was going as well as possible, and also because it was my baby. Mixed emotions. I experienced the event in an extraordinary way – both as an EMT and as a father. Orit managed to take care of me and my wife and managed the event very professionally.