'One for the record books': Rural Sask. paramedics deliver 3 babies in 1 snowy night

Amid zero visibility conditions, paramedics in Rosthern, Sask. received three emergency calls for women in labour.

RCMP advised people to avoid travel on Monday evening, due to blowing snow and ice buildup on Saskatchewan highways.

However, paramedics travelling those same highways helped deliver three babies in the span of a few hours.

“Three healthy babies, three healthy moms,” said Jacques Van Eeden, Rosthern and District Ambulance operations manager.

In Van Eeden’s 20 years working as a paramedic, he said he’s never seen a situation like the one on Monday night.

“I've seen a lot of things, but catching three babies at the exact same time in a small town like this — I’m pretty sure that's one for the record books,” Van Eeden said, laughing.

The first call for a woman in labour came in at around 11:30 p.m. at Beardy's and Okemasis' Cree Nation.

The ambulance picked up the woman and was en route to Rosthern hospital when the ambulance got stuck in the snow.

A tow truck not only helped free the ambulance, but followed it to the hospital. The baby was delivered shortly after arriving.

The second call, from Hague, came in at around 1:30 a.m.

Kelsie Funk said her contractions came quick.

“I was freaking out because I was not expecting it. I was like, ‘I have to push, I can’t stop. It’s coming,’” she told CTV News.

Funk said she started pushing in her bedroom, with her three-year-old beside her.

Husband Steve Funk was on the phone with 911 getting instructions on how to deliver a baby.

“We're really blessed and fortunate that the head was in the right position. It was a little bit complicated trying to orchestrate a three-year-old on your bed, while your wife is having a baby,” he said, laughing.

He said he used a shoelace to cut the umbilical cord of their now healthy baby boy.

The third birth happened shortly after, in Waldheim.

 

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Erin Loewen was planning to have her third child at home with a midwife, but the road conditions cancelled those plans.

“They got me into the ambulance and we drove about three minutes and I said, ‘Nope, this baby's coming. I can feel it,’” Loewen said.

Within minutes, the baby girl was born in the back of the ambulance — delivered by Van Eeden and his wife.

Mom, baby and dad were taken to Rosthern hospital and the ambulance returned the family home after a quick checkup.