A Spanish-speaking couple in Roswell, Georgia needed help from a translator and a 911-dispatcher when they went into labor in their living room about a month ago.
CBS46’s Melissa Stern was there for a reunion when everyone met for the first time, following their baby’s birth.
Mario Arroyo and Carmen Gomez had quite the scare on June 18th. Gomez went into labor at 32 weeks.
“I told the dispatcher, I need somebody who speaks Spanish…hurry up!” joked Mario Arroyo.
Arroyo wasn’t home. His wife called to tell him she was in labor, and he rushed home.
“I found her with the baby in the living room,” Arroyo said.
Arroyo called 911 and a Roswell dispatcher walked him through the steps with the help of a certified medical interpreter, Juan Batista, all the way in New Jersey.
Aside from the language barrier, baby Iker Angel, was born inside the amniotic sac.
Gina Thrasivoulou, a Communications Officer with the Roswell Police Department, saying in the 911 audio call “If the sac doesn’t immediately break open, then pinch the sac with your fingers and twist it hard, using your fingers to tear it open.”
“I don’t get to meet the people that I help, we rarely meet the people,” added Juan Batista, a Certified Medical Interpreter, “This is what makes the job worth it, you get to help a person, you get to make a difference, that’s the most rewarding thing you can have,” said Thrasivoulou.
Arroyo and Gomez’s baby boy was born at 9:54 am.
They say despite the language barrier, they’re so thankful to know they can count on 911 and the interpreters.
Baby Iker Angel is still in the NICU, but doctors say he’s doing just fine and should be able to go home next week.
