Wheaton woman delivers baby girl in ambulance

It was 6 a.m. and the Meecham house was quiet except for Dana.

The expectant mother had already scouted out the bathroom as the place to dig in, face her nervous fear, and end a day of confusion that began 17 hours earlier.

It was about 1 p.m. on Tuesday when the pain first began. It was nothing to get jittery about.

This was an experience the Wheaton woman had been through twice before. She knew what to do. After 5 hours and a trip to her doctor in Highland Park, the pain stopped.

"I was like, this can't be it," Meecham said. "Then I woke up in the middle of the night."

The pain was strong enough to break Meecham's sleep by 4 a.m. Wednesday. But it was still an odd sequence. The pains would come every 10 minutes, then every 15 minutes, then every 10 minutes, then, maybe, every 20 minutes.

"There was really no way to know," Meecham said.

It was as if her unborn daughter, Keely, couldn't decide if she wanted to enter the world or not. She'd dip her toes in the swimming pool of life, then retreat from the cold for awhile until her courage rose again.

Meecham woke her mom, Connie Deckers, who was visiting from Detroit with her dad, Bob, for the birth. She also woke her husband, Ron.

It was time to call the doctor again. Her labor didn't seem to be progressing, but Meecham was taking no comfort in the unpredictable contractions.

It was about 6:40 a.m. when she hung up the phone. Her water broke almost as the receiver hit the cradle.

This was a problem. When her son, Truman, and daughter, Maria, were born, they came within 20 minutes after her water broke. It was clear Meecham wouldn't make it to Highland Park for the birth. It wasn't even clear if she'd make it out of the house.

Not wanting to deliver Keely in the living room and horrifying her other children, Meecham picked the bathroom.

"I lost my cool," Meecham said. "I told Ron, 'Get blankets. Get sheets. Get in here, and don't leave me.'"

The 911 call already had been made. Wheaton paramedics were on their way. By the time Ron returned with the linens, paramedics were at the door.

Meecham already felt the unstoppable urge to push. Paramedics loaded her on a stretcher and rushed her out to the ambulance for a mad dash to Central DuPage Hospital in Winfield.

Paramedic David DiClementi greeted Meecham as the doors on the ambulance closed, and took his first close look at the situation.

"He told me, 'I know you don't want to deliver this baby in an ambulance, but it's coming," Meecham recalled. "So the next time you feel like you have to, you can push.'"

So she did.

The ambulance rolled up to Central DuPage in less than 10 minutes. The hospital's emergency staff already was prepped and waiting outside.

The doors opened. There was DiClementi, Meecham and, yes, a happy, healthy Keely Jade Meecham, who'd finally taken the birth plunge.

Mom and daughter will return to their Wheaton home today.