Baby A'Lire White
One of Elbert County’s newest citizens will grow up as a true native after being born in her front yard Tuesday, May 11 with the help of Elbert County’s advanced emergency medical technician Sydney Pullen McIntosh and paramedic Conner Johnson Taylor.
Taylor said she and partner McIntosh responded to a residence after receiving a call of a mother in labor during the early morning hours of May 11. When she and McIntosh arrived they helped the mother, Calissa Mattox, onto a stretcher and, before being able to get her into the awaiting ambulance, helped her deliver her third baby, a girl she named A’Lire White.
After baby A’Lire was born, Taylor and McIntosh made she was warm and stimulated, cut her umbilical cord and took her vitals. When they knew both Mattox and baby A’Lire were stable, they finished transporting them to the hospital.
“The women of the Elbert County Emergency Services came on the scene and showed out,” Mattox said. “Those ladies were so brave. For the most part I want to thank God that me and baby A’Lire are doing just fine. It was a scary experience but well worth it. For me this will go down in history.”
Taylor said she has followed up with Mattox and A’Lire several times since the birth and both “baby and mom are doing great.” She said she is also excited to be able to continue to have a relationship with the family and see baby A’Lire grow.
“We all were in shock she came out that fast,” Taylor said about baby A’Lire’s birth. “But, the baby is perfect. It couldn’t have went any better. And, that’s the great thing about being in a small town, you get to watch the kid grow up.”
A’Lire’s true Elbert County native status is a rare occurrence since babies are no longer delivered at Elbert Memorial Hospital. Elbert County Emergency Services Operations Supervisor Tim Bohannon said in his 25 years of experience as a paramedic, he’s only helped deliver four babies and Taylor said A’Lire is her first in five years of experience.
“We see all kinds of things in this profession,” Taylor said. “Death, dying. But helping bring a life into the world, it restores your faith in humanity. It makes you realize how blessed you are.”
“I am so thankful that I was able to have this experience,” McIntosh echoed. “This call has by far been the highlight of my career. We walk into every shift not knowing what we are going to see that day. It takes faith in God and trusting God to get through every shift. God really showed out on this particular call. He has shown me that only He could create something so beautiful and that no matter what the world may say - God is real, and He loves us so much that He created children as a gift for us! And what a gift this sweet baby girl was to us on that day.”
Bohannon said while the Elbert County is celebrating EMS week this week, he hopes A’Lire’s birth also “re emphasizes that medics can handle whatever situation is thrown at them.”
“It’s part of what makes the job fun,” Taylor said. “It’s never the same thing.”
**CORRECTION: Calissa Mattox, baby A'Lire's mom, was listed as Calissa "Maddox" in the story and as Calissa "White" in the cutline of the photo in this week's print version and E-edition. We have made the corrections to her name in this story and apologize for the misprint.