A Denton family had quite the surprise when their baby girl arrived almost two weeks early and before they could make it to the hospital in time. “She was expecting to deliver that baby at a hospital, certainly not expecting to deliver the baby in the back of an ambulance.” Steve Athey, a firefighter paramedic for the Denton Fire Department. On Monday, Nov. 25, at about 3:24 a.m., the Denton Fire Department received a 911 call about a woman who was in labor. Jasmine Johnson, who wasn’t expecting her third child until Dec. 7, went to the hospital several hours before after feeling contractions. She said she was sent home since she wasn’t dilated. About five hours later, her water broke. “My husband looked at me and said, ‘I can drive you,’ And I’m like, ‘I can’t walk. So we need to call 911,” explained Johnson. She said her husband began to get towels anticipating he might have to deliver their baby. “At that point when calling 911, the lady basically was telling him to get ready to deliver the baby himself and I heard it on the speaker and I’m like, ‘No, that’s not what’s happening,” laughed Johnson. She had a moment of relief when she saw the paramedics walk into their apartment. “I let it be very known that I’m not having it here in my bed or at home, I need to go to the hospital for sure and once I saw the professionals, I felt very relieved,” expressed Johnson. But the couple’s baby was on her own timeline. “We walked in and she said, ‘This baby is coming,” recalled Athey. “We had no doubt the baby was going to be delivered in that ambulance at that point.” As the paramedics placed Johnson on the stretcher, the baby kept progressing. “By the time we get to the elevator, her head is crowning basically, and it’s time to push, get down the elevator. We push for the second time, get into the truck, third push. and as we’re coming out of the gates into the main street, it was the final push, and she was here,” Johnson chuckled. Sammie Mae Osman was born. “Right when they were getting her in the back of the ambulance, she turned to me and said she had the urge to push and I said give us just a second to get us in the back of the ambulance and once we got her in the back of the ambulance, we told her, you know, feel free to go ahead and start pushing,” said Athey. Johnson was in good hands. Athey was the one who caught the baby, but it wasn’t his first time. In his 32-year career, Athey has delivered 17 babies and last Monday, that number became 18. “The mothers do all the delivering, all we do is the catching. So we’re just there to assist them in the natural process. but it was my 18th one to catch,” said Athey. The fire department met up with the family a few days later to check in on them and pay a visit to the newest member of the Denton community. A gesture that really touched Johnson and her family. “The Denton Fire Department, I am just forever grateful for you all. And now to have them as an extended family in the fact that we weren’t forgotten and followed up on is just ecstatic in my world and I couldn’t ask for a better delivery,” said Johnson whose family set up a Gofundme to help with the expenses. It was also a moment of happiness for the fire crew, as they usually respond to devastating calls. “We sometimes see the worst in humanity and we see some horrible things in our career. So to see a different side of that, being a life being brought into this world on a good occasion and something that’s special,” said Athey.