Special delivery for Mansfield family

The Ferreira family — including 5-year-old AJ Ferreira, dad Russell Ferreira and mom Camila Rose Ferreira — has a new addition, a soon-to-be-named newborn, who was born at their Mansfield home Wednesday morning. (Contributed photo)

MANSFIELD — Local emergency personnel deal with difficult situations on a daily basis.

Once in a while, however, a call for help might turn out to be a miracle of life.

The Ferreira family in Mansfield welcomed their second child into the world Wednesday morning — this time with a little help from emergency responders.

Mansfield resident Russell Ferreira called 911 at about 6:20 Wednesday morning when his wife, Camila Rose Ferreira, quickly transitioned into the late stages of labor.

“This all happened within an hour,” Russell Ferreira said. “Those guys got here just in the nick of time and it all happened really fast.”

He said his wife began “feeling something” around 4:30 a.m. after getting up from bed and went to go lay back down.

Soon after, she began experiencing contractions and the two decided they should head to the hospital.

Russell Ferreira said they had everything all packed the night before as a precaution since their 5-year-old son was born two-weeks early.

Coincidentally, Wednesday was the two-week mark for the expected arrival of the newborn.

“I thought I was going to be able to head into work and that our son would be getting on the bus,” said Russell Ferreira, an English teacher at RHAM. “Next thing you know, we had to call a friend down the street who’s a nurse to pick him up.”

Prior to making the 911 call, Russell Ferreira was hastily getting ready to leave upstairs when his wife yelled from the kitchen that her water broke.

The Mansfield Fire Department, Mansfield EMTs and Windham Hospital paramedics arrived to their home at approximately 6:30 a.m., according to Mansfield Fire Dept. Chief Fran Raiola.

Mansfield firefighters Juan Sanchez and Tyler Bernham were in the ambulance that arrived first at the scene and, with the help of other fire and medical staff, assisted the mother in the delivery of a healthy baby boy at approximately 6:34 a.m.

Raiola said both the mother and baby are doing well and were transported to the hospital following the birth.

“A large majority of our calls and interactions with the public are under difficult and sometimes unhappy times, so it was rewarding for the responders and the department at whole to be a part of this experience,” Raiola said.

The Ferreira family was thankful for not only the baby’s birth, but the timely services it received.

“Those guys deal with so much tragedy and today they helped bring a baby boy into the world,” Russell Ferreira said. “We don’t know what we would’ve done without them. I can’t thank those guys enough.”

A name for the baby boy is still being deliberated, but the mother will be staying at Manchester Hospital with her newborn until Friday, giving them just a little more time to decide.

Originally published in The Chronicle on December 12, 2018.