Abbey answers the call of new life

Some Triple Zero (000) call takers can wait years, if not decades, to help deliver a baby over the phone. For Emergency Call Handler (ECH) Abbey Coleburn it happened within her first month of working with the Queensland Ambulance Service (QAS).

It was around 5am on Friday 21 February when she received a call from Palmview dad Luke. His partner’s labour had progressed quicker than expected and they needed an ambulance.

As Mum Zoe’s first labour had lasted about three days, they had been preparing for another marathon.

“In all of our planning we were talking about a 12-hour labour, so we weren’t expecting anything less than that,” Luke said.

But the baby had other plans and when it became clear they wouldn’t make it to hospital in time, he called Triple Zero (000).

“It was like when you study for an exam for 12 hours the night before then you sit down at the exam, and you forget everything.”

Luckily, Abbey was there to talk him through the delivery.

“It was pretty emotional to be that involved in the birth of our daughter,” Luke said.

“It’s exactly what we wanted, we wanted a birth with low interventions, and we wanted Luke to be the first one to receive her,” Zoe added.

Within 15 minutes of making the call, a healthy baby girl was born.

“It was quite a surreal experience for me considering I’ve only been taking emergency calls for a little over a month now,” Abbey said.

“I was so relieved when I heard the baby cry straight away and I’m grateful everything went smoothly and both mum and baby had no complications.

“I feel honoured to be able to help someone through such an important moment in their life and hopefully ease some of the stress and anxiety of the situation for them.”

Abbey said hearing the baby cry for the first time through the phone is something she’ll never forget.

A fortnight after baby Brianna was born, Abbey had the opportunity to meet the new family of four.

“Being able to meet the family a couple of weeks later just brings it all together for me,” Abbey said.

“It was my first experience bringing a baby into the world and then actually getting to see the healthy baby girl who was delivered is pretty amazing.”

Even though she’s only been an Emergency Call Handler for a few months, Abbey said she had already learnt so much in her role.

Abbey will continue working in the Brisbane Operations Centre for 12 months before transferring into the graduate paramedic program.

“I love coming to work every day knowing every day is vastly different from the one before and I love the adrenaline rush of not knowing what is going to be on the other end of the line every time the phone rings,” she said.

“Working in the Operations Centre isn’t something I initially considered as an option for me, but I’m grateful for the opportunity to learn how things work behind the scenes.”