ROANOKE, Va. – It was a routine morning for local first responders until Roanoke Police pulled over a speeding vehicle.
It was a couple on the way to the hospital, and a woman was in labor. The officer immediately called Roanoke Fire-EMS, that’s when Jeff Francisco and the crew arrived.
“You’ve never seen better traffic control efforts from city officers. They had the entire intersection blocked off and they were waving us in, they knew exactly where they wanted us to park and where they wanted us to be,” said Francisco.
“The first thing I saw was the officer standing at the passenger door and he looked white as a ghost. He was pretty grateful to see us pulling up.”
They put the laboring woman on a stretcher and into the ambulance. With both departments orchestrating, they were headed to the hospital, but the baby had other plans. The mother gave birth on the way.
The couple was waiting until the baby was born to know the gender, Francisco had the honor of telling her.
“I got to hold up her child and say, ‘Mom, look at your baby.’ When she looked down and saw her, I said, ‘Look you have a little girl.’”
Roanoke Fire-EMS is celebrating being part of their special delivery. While they’re giving the family privacy after the birth of their child, Francisco hopes one day he’ll meet her.
“I’d be lying again if I said I wouldn’t want to see them again, and just see their little girl. Find out what she was named.”
10 News contacted the mother and while she and her husband preferred not to be on camera, they shared a picture of their daughter, who’s named Alanni Ivone.
She also expressed their gratitude to the first responders who helped them.
Alanni was born weighing nine pounds.