MARLBOROUGH – Firefighters respond to many different calls, ranging from fires, to medical emergencies, to motor vehicle accidents and, sometimes, to childbirth.
The situation was an especially unique one on Thursday morning, though, when Marlborough firefighter Matt Lupisella ended up assisting his fiancée, Jennifer Melo, with the birth of their daughter in the back of an ambulance in the breakdown lane of I-290.
Lupisella and Melo recently moved to a new home in Lancaster. The two were expecting their third child and Melo was starting to have contractions, so they made their way to Emerson Hospital in Concord.
After admission, though, they were told it was too early, getting discharged after roughly one hour.
The couple had just returned home when it, indeed, became clear that their baby was on her way.
“We knew we had to get her back to Emerson quickly, so I called 9-1-1,” Lupisella said.
Lancaster Fire/EMS responded with an ambulance staffed with Sterling Firefighter/Paramedics Ron Nickerson and Steve Brosque in the back of the rig. Josh Tamulen, a friend of Lupisella’s, was driving.
The ambulance initially headed toward Emerson before medics determined they were not going to make it that far in time.
They redirected to UMass Memorial Hospital in Worcester.
But the baby, still, was not going to wait.
So, Tamulen pulled over, and Lupisella was able to help Melo safely deliver Savannah Grace Lupisella in the back of the ambulance.
This, in fact, wasn’t the first baby that Lupisella helped deliver. But, in his words, “this was definitely a whole new experience!”
Savannah Grace weighed in at 6 pounds, 12.8 ounces at birth.
Both Melo and Savannah Grace are doing well.
Speaking with the Community Advocate on Thursday, Lupisella shared his thanks for Nickerson, Brosque and Tamulen.
Lupisella and Melo’s sons — eight-year-old Michael and one-year-old Gunner — are additionally looking forward to meeting their baby sister.
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