Published on January 15, 2019
Dixon resident Nikki Miller was to be induced on the morning of January 2, 2019, at Phelps Health, but her new baby decided to come into this world earlier than her scheduled appointment in Rolla.
Miller gave birth to a girl, Charlee Isla Jade Fowler, at 1:45 AM Wednesday, January 2, 2019, at exit 172 off Interstate 44 in western Phelps County, near Jerome. Charlee weighed 7 pounds, 6.6 ounces and was 19.5 inches long.
Charlee was the first baby delivered by Phelps Health Emergency Medical Services (EMS) crews this year. Effective January 1, 2019, Phelps County Regional Medical Center became known as Phelps Health. The name change also affects Phelps County EMS, which is now called Phelps Health EMS.
“It was definitely an experience,” said Robert Taylor, the Phelps Health EMS paramedic who helped deliver Miller’s baby. Taylor previously worked in the Phelps Health Emergency Department and later joined the EMS staff. Except for a few months away from his job so he could further his education, Taylor has worked for the same healthcare organization since 2011.
Charlee was the second baby that Taylor has helped deliver since joining the Phelps Health staff. “The other baby I helped with also was from Dixon,” he said. Delivering a baby in an ambulance is a rare occurrence, Taylor noted.
Miller said she was scheduled to be induced at 5:30 AM on January 2, but at around 10:30 PM the previous night, she began having contractions.
Then around 12:30 to 1:00 AM, her water broke. “The contractions continued, and the urge to push kept coming,” Miller recalled. “I woke up my family members and said, ‘Let’s go to the hospital.’”
While driving Miller to Phelps Health, her family called 911, and an operator told them to meet a Phelps Health EMS ambulance near the Jerome exit.
“They pulled up about five minutes after we arrived, and a gentleman from the ambulance took me from the truck I was in and put me on a gurney,” Miller said. “I remember laying on that gurney in between our truck and the ambulance, and Charlee’s head popped out.”
Miller, still on the gurney, was placed in the ambulance, where she gave birth to Charlee. Both mother and baby were transported to Phelps Health in Rolla.
Miller thanked the Phelps Health EMS crew and nursing staff for all they did.
“Charlee is happy and healthy, and I’m doing just fine,” Miller said via a phone interview a week after giving birth.
In addition to her mother, Charlee was welcomed by her family, including her father, Bryce Fowler, and her older sister, 4-year-old Audree Fowler; and many others.