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‘Firehouse baby’ celebrates her first birthday at station |
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Monday, 30 March 2009 |
The “firehouse baby” turned 1 on Friday and Bauxite firefighters threw a party.
Kadence Miller, who was born at the Bauxite Fire Department, made local history on March 26, 2008. She was the first baby to be born at the fire station and the first known to be born in Bauxite in a half-century.
The fire station was filled with balloons and other party decorations in honor of the celebration. A cake, made by firefighter Pam Smith, depicted a fire engine with a baby riding on top.
Presents were brought for little Kadence, but her primary interest was the birthday fare. She was seated at a table in front of the cake and happily fed herself handsful of the treat after the group sang “Happy Birthday.”
Kadence shared some of the confection with her dad, Josh Miller, and her older sister, Karlee, 2. She attempted to feed her mother, Amber Miller, but Miller declined the treat.
Other family members present were Susan Allen, Kadence’s grandmother; Judy Price, her great-grandmother; and Charles Earnest, her grandfather.
Also present were Robert Cannon, a minister/painter, who was painting at the fire station the day Amber Miller’s mother pulled in last March and obviously needed help for her daughter.
Cannon and Shara Davis, an emergency medical technician for the department, participated in the delivery of Kadence.
“It wasn’t difficult to figure out what was happening,” Cannon said of that day in 2008.
When Allen drove into the station, Cannon was the only person there. He immediately called Davis, who lives nearby.
Neither had delivered a baby before, but Davis has children of her own. Also participating in the delivery was Chris Jarvis, a paramedic who was serving as the department’s assistant chief.
Miller’s contractions had started about 3 a.m. that day, but the East End woman didn’t want to rush to the hospital. She had had two false alarms and didn’t want to have to return home again, she said.
When the family left their home in East End, her contractions had been five minutes apart. They quickly escalated to three minutes apart, then had become continuous.
“I knew we were in trouble when we got to Sardis and my water broke and I could see the baby’s head,” Miller said.
She said she told her mother to “drive fast” because the baby was coming fast.
The delivery was quick, Davis said. Initially, Kadence didn’t cry — not until Davis suctioned her. “Then it felt so good to hear her cry,” she added.
Last year, Miller said she and her family would always consider the Bauxite fire station a hallowed place.
“We plan to come visit every year on Kadence’s birthday,” she said.
And the Bauxite firefighters say they are indeed welcome.
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