Police officers in Wyoming, Minn., are being hailed as heroes for helping a mother in early labor at her home early Tuesday.
In a social media post that has drawn hundreds of likes, comments and shares, Police Chief Paul Hoppe told the story in fine narrative fashion:
"This past Tuesday morning two of our Officers were dispatched to a call of a mother in labor at her home," Hoppe wrote. "As the first Officer approached the home, he discovered the front door locked and no way to enter the house to assist the mother. With a swift kick to the door, the officer forced entry into the house and found the mother had just given birth to a baby girl. The newborn was in the mother's arms and not breathing.
"We train as first responders to handle these calls, to deal with a mother in labor or to perform CPR on a person in respiratory distress. Dealing with both at the same time is extremely rare. The officer sprang into action and began CPR on the newborn baby girl Anna, clearing the airway, giving mouth to mouth and compressions until she came to life with that familiar newborn cry. But the story doesn't end here.
"As the officers were performing CPR on the newborn, the mother shouted out [that] the second one was coming out. Yes, that's right, a second newborn. Unannounced to the two officers, the mother was pregnant with twins.
"With the first newborn baby breathing on her own, the officers switched gears and delivered the second newborn baby girl, Ashley."
In a phone interview Thursday night, Hoppe said that babies Anna and Ashley, although hospitalized on ventilators, were doing just fine, along with mom Nichole, 38, and dad Jeremy, 37.
He identified the officers who shepherded the twins into the world as Matt Paavola and Scott Boecker.
"It's very, very rare that an officer delivers a baby during a career, much less under the circumstances in this one," he said. Even so, all officers are trained about childbirth, and their actions in this case "kept this family's experience joyful."
Like a sprinkling of other Minnesota police forces, Hoppe's crew has become especially adept at communicating with citizens via social media.
On Thursday, a day after snow and rain fell across much of the state, @wyomingpd tweeted a list of snow totals that did not include Wyoming, saying, "We mounted two hair dryers on our squads, turned them on full blast and drove around the city. It worked. You're welcome, Wyoming."
