Crime & Safety
Family Thanks Oswego First Responders for Delivering Baby
Baby Braylan Sexton was born in an Oswego ambulance on Feb. 16.
Mom Amanda Sexton thought she had plenty of time when she had her father-in-law drive her to Rush-Copley Hospital to deliver her second child.
The family — including dad Jeffrey, daughter Addison and new baby Braylan — stopped by Oswego Fire Station 1 on Monday to say thank you to the firefighters who helped bring the healthy baby boy into the world. His debut came much more quickly than expected on Feb. 16.
"My doctor said to leave for the hospital when my contractions were five minutes apart," Amanda Sexton said. Sexton said she left a bit early, calling her husband, Jeffrey, and telling him it was time for him to leave his job in Naperville and meet her at the hospital.
But it soon became apparently to the expectant mom that her labor was progressing more quickly than she'd expected — much more quickly.
"I told my father-in-law he had to pull over and deliver the baby, and he didn't believe me," Amanda said.
Father-in-law Jeff Sexton quickly realized it was no joke and called 911 after pulling over near Budlong and Orchard roads.
Nine minutes after that fateful call, baby Braylan Blake William Sexton was born in an Oswego ambulance — thanks to the help of firefighter/paramedics Josh McElroy and Jimm Pechinski.
The veteran firefighters have been with Oswego Fire Protection District for 10 years, but the baby boy's Feb. 16 birth was a first.
"This is the first one we've ever delivered in the field," McElroy.
The firefighters tried to reassure Sexton, who remained calm despite her predicament.
"She kept saying, 'I don't want to have my baby on the side of the road,'" said McElroy, who is a father himself. "I told her, 'I've got five of my own — I've done this before.'"
Baby Braylan's delivery came so fast that Amanda didn't even have time to let her husband know what was happening. Jeffrey had left work and was awaiting her arrival at Rush-Copley.
"I had no clue," Jeffrey said. "I called my dad and he said, 'I'm on my way — but the baby and Amanda are in the ambulance.'"
Pechinski said Amanda was composed throughout the ordeal.
"She was a lot more calm than her father-in-law," he joked.
The Oswego ambulance safely transported mom and baby to Rush-Copley, where they met up with dad Jeffrey.
Baby Braylan weighed in at 8 pounds, 4 ounces. He was welcomed home by big sister Addison, who helped firefighters put a blue stork sticker on the ambulance where Braylan was born.
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