911 dispatchers in CA help deliver 2 babies in less than a week

LAGUNA HILLS, CA -- Two Orange County Fire Authority dispatchers helped deliver two baby girls in less than a week.

Officials say dispatcher Collette Whitlock answered a 911 call around 9 p.m. Sunday and calmly helped Patrick deliver his baby when his wife, Laure, who was one day overdue, went into labor at home.

"I planned on natural birth and I had joked about 'maybe we'll have her at home," Laure said. "I kept thinking the whole time, you know, we're gonna have a quick, quick, quick delivery, quick delivery, quick delivery. I didn't actually think it would be that quick."

At the same time, Patrick had to calm their two-year-old daughter, Kayleigh.

"We just kept saying, 'Your baby sister is coming. We're getting a gift tonight," he said.

About 50 minutes after the first contraction, Madeleine arrived. Paramedics quickly responded to the couple's home in the Wagon Wheel neighborhood of Trabuco Canyon and transported Madeleine and Laure to Saddleback Memorial Medical Center in Laguna Hills, where they are said to be doing great.

This is the second time in less than a week that an Orange County Fire Authority dispatcher has helped a father deliver his own baby. Last Monday, OCFA dispatcher Mishele Richards helped Jon and Sarina Jordan deliver another healthy baby girl named Amalyn in Irvine.