Video shows moment baby is reunited with hero paramedic who saved her life
A three-month-old baby has been reunited with the London Ambulance Service (LAS) paramedic who saved her life during a mother’s traumatic birth.
Fia Siciliano was born last October after Tooting mum Therese Droog, 40, started bleeding heavily while picking her daughter up from school.
The mother-of-two, who was 39 weeks’ pregnant at the time, said: “I have never been so scared in my life.
“I was doing my level best to keep it together, but for sure believed that my little girl wasn’t going to survive.”
Dad David Siciliano dialled 999 and within minutes paramedic Katie Vaughan arrived in a fast-response car. She said she recognised that Ms Droog’s condition could be life-threatening for Fia and called for back-up.
Ms Droog said: “In the ambulance, I was already preparing for the worst possible outcome and telling my husband ‘We need to be ready for this baby not being alive’.”
Despite everyone fearing the worst, the staff of St George’s Hospital in Blackshaw Road, Tooting, heard Fia’s heartbeat.
Ms Vaughan said: “I was 95 per cent sure that Fia wasn’t going to make it. When we heard the heartbeat, it took every bit of strength for me to stop the tears of joy rolling down my face.”
Later that night, Therese went into labour and at 7am the following morning, she gave birth to baby Fia, who was healthy and weighed 10lbs and 6oz.
A week later, Ms Droog sent the LAS a letter praising Ms Vaughan’s care. The two women organised a reunion at Wimbledon Ambulance Station in Nursery Road, Wimbledon, with baby Fia.
Video shows the moment Baby Fia is reunited with Paramedic Katie Vaughan (Picture: LAS)
Ms Droog said: “I will always remember and cherish the hug she [Ms Vaughan] gave me at the hospital after we found out Fia had made it. Women looking after women, mother to mother and human to human, I needed that hug and she saw it.”
Every year, LAS receives about 13,000 pregnancy-related emergency calls. The service was the first ambulance trust in the UK to establish a maternity team, which has been training medics and call handlers since 2015.
Camella Main, lead midwife at LAS, said: “Bleeding heavily after 20 weeks of pregnancy can be very scary. I am in awe of Therese and David for staying so calm and quickly calling for help.
“We have invested a lot of training and resources on teaching ambulance staff how to recognise this type of emergency and act as quickly as possible to save the baby’s life.”
Pictured top: From left, paramedic Katie Vaughan with baby Fia and mum Therese Droog (Picture: LAS)