BRYAN, Ohio — It's a sweet reunion for a team of Williams County EMS workers and a family with a new addition.
Byron Weaver, Tyler Adams, Brooke Felt, Austin Thomas and Drew Short reunited with Jacob Miller, Starr Kroetz, and little baby Chloe, who arrived a little too quickly.
Kroetz gave birth in the Spangler Candy Company parking lot, just two blocks from the hospital.
As the most senior member on the team, Weaver was determined to keep both mom and baby safe and get them to the hospital.
"These guys kept asking me, they said, 'You know, should we go lights and sirens? Her water just broke' and I said, 'No I don't think so.' Then Austin looked at me and said, 'Are you sure?'" Weaver said. "I've done this for 25 years, we'll be okay, we'll make it to the hospital."
Instead, they made it to the candy factory's parking lot, where Kroetz gave birth to Chloe.
Though her newborn daughter is not her first, she admits to a bit of anxiety about the birth.
"Honestly, I could tell they kind of didn't really know what to do. I was thinking in my head, 'These guys don't know what they're doing,'" Kroetz said. "But like, I trusted them and I trust myself just because I know what I was doing."
It was a job well done for everyone involved.
"She came out and she was perfect," Weaver said.
His teammate agreed.
"Literally, textbook perfect," Thomas said. "I mean word-for-word right out of the textbook."
At 36 weeks and six days pregnant, Kroetz gave birth to five pounds, one-ounce Chole on July 18 at 5:58 p.m.
These details aren't just important to her dad Jacob Miller and mom Kroetz, because deliveries for EMS are a big deal to the team, too.
"It doesn't happen very often. Obviously, in our line of work, we see a lot of, death and very, like, very very sick people," Thomas said. "So, it's almost like a breath of fresh air, very rewarding."
Each of the workers gets a stork pin to celebrate the occasion and the ambulance will get a stork sticker.
While Kroetz said this birth did not go according to any traditional plan, she said she got something better.
"I told him, I wanted a home birth. He said, 'You're crazy,'" Kroetz said. "So, I kinda got it, you know?"
Weaver did get a chance to see the baby in the hospital after her birthday and he agreed the day's reunion was very special.
"It's great to get a chance to see her again," Weaver said.
