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Dad helps deliver baby in Indianapolis grocery store parking lot

When one Indianapolis dad was called into action to help deliver his new baby, he was smart enough to call for help.
Ayinde and Ashley Hair with their son, Ezekiel, and new baby Azariah. (Photo: Ayinde Hair)

INDIANAPOLIS (WTHR) - Ask most moms and they will tell you the last person they want delivering their baby is dad.

Fortunately, when one Indianapolis dad was called into action, he was smart enough to call for help.

"My wife's water broke already and her contractions have gotten really bad," Ayinde Hair told a dispatcher last Wednesday night.

"Pulled in here and the baby was coming," he said Thursday.

"Here" was an empty Fresh Thyme parking lot on West 86th Street.

"I started feeling the pressure, feeling his head, I was like, 'Oh, he's coming. I am not going to make it," Ayinde's wife Ashley recalled.

It was 12:30 Wednesday morning. Dad needed help so he called 911.

"If you're able to, go ahead and have her lie flat on her back on the floor in the car," the calming voice of the IFD 911 operator instructed.

"First, he said get her on a flat surface and I was, like, 'There is no moving her.' She was in there like, 'Ahhh,'" Ayinde continued to remember.

"It's coming out," Ayinde told the dispatcher.

"Okay, listen to me. Is it coming out now?" the 911 operator asks.

"The baby came out. It was like two contractions and the baby was out and the umbilical cord was around his neck. My first reaction was to lay him on mom, but I saw it right after he said it, so I pulled it from around his neck and he was fine," Ayinde said.

"He's out. He's out," Dad exclaims on the tape.

"Then he told me to clear his mouth and I did. He cried and he made his first sounds and I said, 'Yeah, baby, yeah," he remembered Thursday.

"Father had delivered the baby just before we got there. Baby was healthy. Mother was healthy," Emily Wheatfill, a paramedic from Pike Township recalled.

"Hi to your Fresh Thyme baby. Wow," a supermarket customer said outside the store.

Thursday they all came back to where the miracle occurred. Eight-day-old, seven-pound Azariah was clad in his "Fresh Baby" T-shirt. The dispatcher, who wished to remain anonymous, could still be heard.

"We've done it so many times, but it's always special, because not every call is like that. When you get the opportunity, it's a very special run," the dispatcher shared.

"It's not too often you get to leave the hospital and get to say congrats," Emily Wheatfill noted.

This was the gift of life, so they took the time to celebrate it. It was a time for handshakes and hugs. Then little Azariah got buckled back into the car he was born in and the miracle reunion was over, but he will be Fresh Thyme for all time.

The Hairs already have a beautiful son named Ezekiel. All four are doing well tonight and they would like to thank IFD, Pike Township and St. Vincent Women's Hospital for taking such good care of them.

In case you were wondering, the name Azariah means "helped by God."

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