"Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these." - Matthew 19:14
Baby Angel made an unexpected entrance to the world Aug. 8 in Hinsdale.
His mom, Bernice, is part of the cleaning crew at Zion Lutheran Church's Early Childhood Education Center. She was working when she went into labor four months early.
"We have that 15-foot Jesus banner welcoming everybody that comes to the ECEC and that's right where she had the baby," said Elizabeth Reilley, center director.
"Jesus was there," said Colin Fuller, head elder at the church, who was on site at the time of the birth.
"And he was welcoming this baby into his outstretched arms," Reilley added.
Angel weighed only 2 pounds. He wasn't breathing and didn't have a pulse. Hinsdale firefighters/paramedics intubated him at the church. Doctors were able to get a heartbeat once he arrived at UChicago Medicine Advent Health Hinsdale.
"We didn't know that because the baby was whisked away," Reilley said. "We went home that night - we were just seeping and praying that the outcome would be different."
Reilley made the 911 call when she realized Bernice was in distress, not realizing at first that she was in labor. The baby had already been born by the time paramedics arrived, Capt. Bill Claybrook told me.
"We did what we had to do and it worked out," he said. "That was an absolute miracle. It was a first for all of us."
Nick Chism kept tiny Angel alive on the ambulance ride.
"I was doing CPR on the way to the hospital," he said. "It's so minimal what you're doing. We always hope for the best but you never know. We got the baby to the hospital. Within five minutes when we were at the hospital, they got a heartbeat."
Several of the crew that responded to the 911 call - Claybrook, Chism, Bob Patitucci, Ryan Dudek, Nick McDonough and Jasmeet Sanghera - showed up at Zion hoping to see the baby when his mom came to pick up donations from the congregation.
"We went to the hospital probably a month ago to check on the baby, but they were doing tests," Claybrook said. "We've been dying to see him."
Angel was still in the hospital, but Bernice expected him to be released soon.
"He's doing well," she told me through a translator. "It was a miracle that he was saved and he was alive. I had doubts that he was going to live."
She said she was grateful for all the items people had donated - which were piled high in the back of her friend's pick-up truck. You can see photos on our Facebook page at http://www.facebook.com/thehinsdalean.
"Thank you," she said. "I didn't know I was going to get all this stuff and help from other people."
Reilley said families were asked to donate items to Bernice and Angel for the ECEC chapel offering. In addition, the congregation also collected money and presented a check to Bernice, who also is mom to Iker, 6.
The paramedics and hospital staff who cared for Angel deserve so much gratitude, Reilley said.
"This is a fantastic group of very capable, amazing first responders we have in our community and they should be acknowledged and thanked," she said. "The outcome could have been very different.
Initially ECEC and church members thought they would need to support Bernice with funeral expenses and bereavement pay.
"This is the most amazing story," Reilley said. "Everybody I tell this story to can't believe it."
- Pamela Lannom is editor of The Hinsdalean. Readers can email her at [email protected].
