WASHINGTON — Two grateful D.C. parents visited the city’s 911 call center Wednesday to thank the operator who helped deliver their now one-month-old child. Andre and LaTasha Smith and baby A’dria met Desirae Dammons at the Office of Unified Communications after her efforts last month.
LaTasha Smith went into labor at home on the Nov. 5 due date, and with the contractions coming quickly, her husband Andre dialed 911. Dammons answered and calmly instructed the dad how to deliver the baby.
“OK, listen to me carefully; I want you to do exactly as I say,” Dammons can be heard saying during the 8 1/2 minute 911 call released to the public. “Tell her to not try to prevent the birth, allow her to assume the most comfortable position and ask her to take deep breaths between the contractions.”
“I see the baby, I see the baby,” Andre Smith told Dammons.
“As the baby is delivered, I want you to support the baby’s head and shoulders … remember, the baby will be slippery, so don’t drop the baby,” Dammons said.
First responders were close to arriving at the family’s Northwest D.C. home, but the baby wasn’t waiting.
“The baby is out, the baby is out,” Smith told Dammons. The cries of baby A’dria can plainly be heard on the 911 recording.
“The baby’s crying?” Dammons asked. “Yes,” Smith answered.
“OK, gently wash the baby’s mouth and nose out; dry the baby off with a clean towel,” Dammons said, whose instructions competed with the loud crying of the Smiths’ fourth child.
Now, in person, Dammons and her colleagues gave a few gifts to the family with the baby she helped to deliver.
Watch video below from WTOP’s TV news partner, NBC Washington.
