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‘Highlight of my career’: Firefighters honored for helping deliver Medina County baby

WESTFIELD TOWNSHIP, Ohio (WJW) – A team of dedicated volunteer firefighters and paramedics is being saluted by a Medina County couple for their role in a very special delivery. 

Alyson Michael, 29, says she and her husband had already experienced the joys and challenges of pregnancy with the birth of their three sons, but early Tuesday morning, their first daughter would announce her arrival with very little warning.

“I went into active labor at 3:20 a.m., so I went running and I was like yelling for him to get up and call my mom, and then after he called my mom, I was like ‘no, call 911, we can’t wait,’” she said.

On the 911 call, Alyson is heard telling her husband and the dispatcher, “I need to go now, I need to go now.” 

Deputies with the Medina County Sheriff’s Office were first to arrive at the family’s home in Westfield Township, and it became clear that Alyson would not make it to the hospital.

“By then she was squeezing me, like, ‘she’s going to come out, she’s going to come out,’” said her husband, John Smith.

The Westfield Township Fire and Rescue District is a volunteer department, which meant that the firefighters and paramedics had to be summoned to the fire station before they could respond to the Alyson’s call for help.

“I rolled over and looked at my phone and it said ‘a 30-year-old female in labor’ and it said in all caps, ‘FOURTH BABY.’ That usually means that it’s probably going to come out very, very quickly,” said firefighter Brandy Crall. 

When the first responders from Westfield Township arrived, they were greeted by a very anxious Alyson.

“She looked right at me and said she’s having this baby and I put my arms around her and she started screaming out because she was having contractions and I was just like, ‘Let it out. It’s okay. Let it out, girl,'” said Crall.

She then helped Alyson into the back of the life squad and tried to reassure her.

“She just yelled and said ‘she’s coming, she’s coming, I’m having this baby,’ and then I lifted up her pajama shirt and then right there was the head.” 

Seconds later, Crall helped deliver little Clara Mae Smith. 

“Beautiful little Clara, just sitting there in my hands and crying, looking at me, pink and beautiful and healthy as can be,” said Crall. 

Alyson says they will be forever grateful for the efforts of the Westfield firefighters and paramedics.

“I’m glad I got the team that I did. They did so good. They were so calm and here I am like screaming and they’re like ‘it’s fine, it’s fine,’” she said. 

The first responders are being awarded stork pins, which is one of the great traditions of the fire service, and a small stork sticker has been placed on their life squad. 

“It’s the highlight of my career. There’s no words to describe it, it was absolutely amazing. I loved every bit of it,” Crall said.

The firefighters and EMTs will be honored by Township Trustees on Monday. 

“It’s not always a great outcome when we do this job, and when you have an outcome like this, it’s such a happy ending. It’s really an honor, it’s really a blessing for everybody that’s involved,” said Westfield Township Fire Chief Brian Cavanaugh.

When asked about the recognition that the first responders are receiving, Alyson told us, “I love that. I think that they should be recognized for the work that they did because I could not do it. I couldn’t have done it.”

As a result of her grand entrance on Tuesday morning, Baby Clara Mae is now referred to by her parents as “the Princess.”