Newborn Aubrielle Francis Nankunda was delivered healthy into this world early Sunday morning on Route 128 in the back of a Gloucester Fire Department ambulance on the way to the hospital thanks to the efforts of two firefighters/paramedics.
The baby’s father, Innocent Francis Mpfuranziza, said his wife, Pophia Nuwahereza, was due to deliver on Thursday, Dec. 5. That day came and went.
Around midnight into Sunday morning his wife started to feel some labor pain.
“At approximately around 1:46 a.m., I called 911 for help and explained everything that was happening,” Mpfuranziza said in a text message, “and the Gloucester Fire Department was so fast for the call.
“They arrived,” he said, “and decided to take my wife to Salem Hospital. However, before they even moved a half mile away from my house, my wife immediately gave birth to Aubrielle.”
Firefighter/Paramedics Sean Ellis and Abigail Meadowcroft helped deliver the healthy baby girl, fire Chief Eric Smith said.
“Companies arrived to find the mother in labor, and after assessing her on scene, they began to take the woman to a local hospital,” Smith said. While heading to the hospital, the delivery became imminent and Meadowcroft and Ellis helped deliver the healthy baby girl in the back of Rescue 1 at about 2:16 a.m., the chief said.
The ambulance ended up taking mother and newborn to Beverly Hospital for further care.
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“She was so pretty from the get-go,” Meadowcroft said Wednesday. “Aside from paramedic training, this was my first real delivery.”
Meadowcroft, who is from Salem, is in her third year with the Gloucester Fire Department.
“It has been a whirlwind,” she said, adding the department does a great job with training “and a lot of that comes from the values of the community.”
“The Gloucester Fire Department would like to congratulate the family on their new addition, and to highlight the great work of Firefighter/Paramedics Sean Ellis and Abigail Meadowcroft, who helped ensure a safe and happy birth despite challenging circumstances,” Smith said.
“This ambulance company did outstanding work, and had the honor of providing medical care for a positive moment in a family’s life. Not all
EMS calls have such happy endings. We are proud to have had the opportunity to help this Gloucester family in need.”
Mpfuranziza said Tuesday afternoon both his wife and newborn daughter are doing fine and had just arrived home.
“I and my family would love to really appreciate the Gloucester firefighters for their support, patience, kindness, compassion and being so professional to whatever they did,” Mpfuranziza said.
“I wish it was possible for us to really meet up with the Gloucester firefighters to say thanks for the great job they did for me and my family.”
He said he wished there was a better way to say ‘thank you’ to the firefighters “than saying it in words.”
“You did everything you could with love and kindness to bring us a beautiful baby Angel Aubrielle Francis Nankunda,” he said. He said the paramedics helped his wife who he said had lost hope because of the pain.
In addition to Aubrielle, the couple has three children, a son, Blessing Francis Namanya, 9, a daughter, Arianna Francis Uwase, 8, and another daughter, Arabella Francis Ampaire, who will be 2 in May. His younger daughter is still in Uganda where Mpfuranziza’s wife is from. She and the two older children came to the United States a year and a day before Aubrielle was born.
Mpfuranziza also lived in Uganda, but he said he is originally from the Democratic
Republic of Congo in Central Africa. He fled his homeland at age 6 and lived as a refugee in Uganda for 20 years, before moving to the United States.
“Thank you so much Sean and Abigail and the Gloucester Fire Department firefighters/paramedics in general,” he said. “We really love you.”
Ethan Forman may be contacted at 978-675-2714, or at eforman@northofboston.com.
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