Mother delivers own baby thanks to Missouri 911 dispatcher's help

PIKE COUNTY, Mo. (KTVI) — A Missouri mother safely delivered her own baby boy in a car thanks to the help of a Pike County 911 dispatcher.

Christie Rosenstengle welcomed baby Reece into the world on May 11 in her and her husband's car. It was about 1:30 a.m., and Rosenstengle's husband, Kaleb, was driving them to the hospital when Rosenstengle said it was time.

"As soon as we were about to pull off in Eolia, I said my water's going to break... You have to stop. Stop the car. Pull over."

On the other end of the phone was a Pike County 911 dispatcher Faith Cooper.

"The operator, she was fantastic," Rosenstengle said. "She asked us 'How far apart are her contractions?' Like, trying to help us establish if we needed to pull over if we needed to keep going."

Her contractions were less than 3 minutes apart.

"She taught Kaleb through helping me deliver the baby, and he's done it before," Rosenstengle said. "But it was cool to have her there as a reassurance to know that he was doing everything he should have been doing."

This is her fourth baby and the second born in the car. The first time she delivered her baby, she was in her driveway with no help because her phone was dead.

Pike County 911 said this is the first time dispatchers have assisted with childbirth since they implemented emergency medical dispatch in 2020. All Pike County 911 dispatchers are certified in EMD and CPR.

"We are grateful for the training and everything think that they have done to make it safer," Rosenstengle said.

And she said she was extremely thankful for the dispatcher.

"I think we're going to have to give her lots of snuggles, huh, buddy?" Rosenstengle said as she looked down at her son in her arms.

She said she plans to bring little Reece to meet Cooper next Friday.