Baby born at Drum meets his birth team

FORT DRUM — Emergency responders don't often get to see the results of their work — a patient revived, an injury healed, a life extended by years. But early Tuesday, members of the Army post's emergency response team reunited with Deaglan Rafferty, a little boy they helped bring into the world just after 5 a.m. Jan. 4.

Circumstances were a little calmer on this second meeting. Mom Courtney Rafferty pronounced Deaglan a good addition to the family as she snuggled her youngest son at the post's emergency dispatch center, five weeks after his sudden arrival in her home on post.

Spc. Tara Shvetzov, a military police officer who helped Mrs. Rafferty deliver Deaglan minutes after responding to an emergency call at her home, and dispatcher George Turner, who talked Spc. Shvetzov through the process, took turns holding the baby.

Mrs. Rafferty, Spc. Shvetzov, Mr. Turner and other Fort Drum emergency responders on duty that morning were gathered at the post's dispatch center and military police headquarters to celebrate a happy outcome to this special call for help. Mrs. Rafferty, whose husband, Shawn Rafferty, is deployed to Iraq with the 10th Mountain Division's 2nd Brigade Combat Team, thanked the responders, and Fort Drum's director of emergency services, Joseph F. Margrey, presented Mrs. Rafferty with a gift basket full of children's toys.

The delivery was a new experience for Spc. Shvetzov, a traffic investigator who initially thought she was headed for a fender-bender when she was told to respond to the call at Mrs. Rafferty's home just as her shift was ending early Jan. 4.

While en route, "all the information came over the radio that someone was in labor, and that's where I was headed," she said. "I have a daughter, but I've never been on that end of delivering the baby."

This was something she thought only happened in movies, Spc. Shvetzov said.

"I had no idea what I was going to do," she said.

That's where Mr. Turner came in. After gathering information by phone from a panicked Mrs. Rafferty and dispatching Spc. Shvetzov, he remained on the line, trying to calm the patient until responders arrived. Soon, he was talking Spc. Shvetzov through the delivery using reference cards, according to his training.

Mrs. Rafferty had about 10 minutes to prepare for her son's arrival after contractions began, she said. Spc. Shvetzov had even less time. Entering the bathroom where Mrs. Rafferty was in labor in the bathtub, "I looked down, and there definitely was a baby crowning," she said. "That's when my nerves just completely stopped. I stopped shaking; I wasn't scared. I just got down in there and delivered a baby."

Deaglan had some initial difficulty breathing, but by the time he was born, an ambulance crew had arrived. He and his mother were taken to Samaritan Medical Center, Watertown. He's now a healthy, wide-eyed redhead, like his mother and his older brother, Camryn, 5. Six days later, Mr. Rafferty was home on leave, meeting the newest addition to his family.

Mr. Turner, the dispatcher, said assisting with the delivery was rewarding. "It's just nice that you can be there for somebody in their time of need."