MIDDLETON (WKOW) -- A Dane County 911 dispatcher came to the rescue by helping a couple over the phone to deliver their baby at home.
Chris and Jessica McFarland, of Middleton, were unable to get to the hospital in time before giving birth to one of their twin daughters.
"It was just intense pain, and there was nothing I could do," said McFarland, who began giving birth in her bathroom.
She asked her husband, Chris, to call 911 immediately.
"The phone rang at about 12:30 in the morning," said Dane County Communications 911 Communicator Kelsey Durand, who answered their call. "It happened so quick."
When Durand answered the call, McFarland had already given birth to her daughter, Nora.
"And then [Chris] said, 'I don't know when she's going to deliver the second', and that's when it hit me that 'oh she's delivering twins'," said Durand, who quickly tried to calm the couple down while giving instructions to make sure Nora was OK.
According to Durand, talking a caller through a baby delivery isn't that uncommon, but when you add "premature" and "twins" to the mix, it can become a serious situation.
Luckily, after a few minutes on the phone, paramedics showed up and brought the couple and their newborn to the hospital, where their second daughter, Grace, was born.
"How swiftly and how professionally everybody was made the whole situation seamless, it was just awesome," said McFarland, who is grateful for Durand's help. "He was always there, he was always talking me through things, his tone was just even-keeled the whole way."
The following day, Durand was invited to the hospital to visit the twins.
"It was very surreal, it was very cool and I think it's a friendship we'll have for a long time," said Durand, who plans on staying connected with the family throughout the twins' life.
"I can't tell you if it didn't go exactly the way it did, if [Durand] wasn't as calm as he was about the situation and I wasn't in there to catch [Nora] right at that time, any other way it could have been a completely different story," said McFarland, calling the whole situation a "miracle."
According to Dane County Communications officials, about one to two baby deliveries happen over the phone each month.
For more on this story: http://www.wkow.com//story/34590091/2017/02/23/911-dispatcher-helps-middleton-couple-deliver-baby#at_pco=cfd-1.0