On Sunday night at around 8:00 p.m., a woman went into labor in her home in Yishuv Leshem which is located in Samaria. She had visited the hospital that same morning because she had felt like she was nearing labor but was sent home after being examined by the doctors. That evening, her water broke. The woman’s husband immediately called the local emergency services to assist them with the impromptu at-home birth.  

During the preparations for the memorial service for her father who passed away a month ago, United Hatzalah volunteer EMT Natali Bagizada received the notification regarding the emergency. She dropped everything and rushed out to help. “I was so excited to go that I ran out of the house yelling to my husband that I was going to help bring a new life into the world,” Natali said. “It felt like everything came full circle when on the night of my father’s memorial, I helped a mother deliver a new baby. I felt like it was in his honor.”

 

Natali arrived within two minutes at the scene, along with United Hatzalah volunteers Pini Zecharia and paramedic Naama Zabar, and a United Hatzalah ambulance and crew. They all rushed inside the house and began assisting the laboring woman to assure the safe and smooth delivery of the baby. 

 

A group of around five medically experienced women was in the room so the men stepped out to give the laboring woman some privacy and waited in the other room in case they were called upon for help. Naama pointed out the importance of having women first responders assisting in the delivery of a new baby. 

 

“Each time there is an emergency involving a woman or a birth, it is so important that professionally trained  women are present because they provide an extra level of comfort for the woman.”

 

The contractions intensified as soon as the EMTs arrived and after a quick ten minutes, a healthy baby boy was born. The new parents were ecstatic. The mother and baby were helped into the ambulance and brought to the maternity ward at the nearest hospital for a complete check-up and postpartum care.

 

“When I received the alert about the birth, I knew it was important for me to be there, more so perhaps than other medical emergencies, because I understand the importance of women helping women. This is especially true in intimate situations such as a birth or other gynecological issues,” said Naama Zabar, “I would also like to thank all of the other first responders and medical teams that came and helped out at the birth. Working together in cooperation for the better care of the patient is the ideal we all live up to. Well done.”

 

After the incident was over, Natali reflected on the teamwork and said that it went farther than just the people in the room. “On behalf of our ambulance crew and the patient, I would like to thank the donors of the United Hatzalah ambulance for allowing us to be present at the birth. Without your donation, we wouldn’t have been able to respond as quickly as we did. It warms our hearts to know that thanks to the kind and generous donors, there’s an ambulance in our neighborhood in case of any medical emergency. May we continue to hear only good news.”

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