A Queens woman who didn’t even know she was pregnant before giving birth in the shower last year was reunited Wednesday with the EMS officers who helped save her and her baby.
Lori Traore, 41, and her young daughter were among 150 people attending the 29th annual Second Chance Ceremony in Red Hook, Brooklyn — where trauma survivors reunited with the paramedics, EMTs, FDNY EMS officers, firefighters and dispatchers whose actions meant life or death for them.
“Honestly, I’m holding back tears right now because I know if it wasn’t for them, my daughter wouldn’t be here,” Traore told The Post, pointing at Lt. Jimmy Guailaceia, who held her 9-month-old, Ellen Mystique, in his arms.
In the past year, EMS alone has responded to 1.6 million life-threatening calls.
“God sent the FDNY to help make miracles happen,” said Michael Fields, chief of EMS operations for the city. “EMTs work as God’s Force Multiplier, making the miraculous possible.”
Traore said she experienced her brush with death Aug. 9, when she stayed at her home in Bayside because she wasn’t feeling well. She said that suddenly, while in the shower, she felt the urge to push.
She said she had been told she was unable to conceive and had no idea she was pregnant — until she delivered an unresponsive infant.
“Next thing I know, I was in the shower, and I’m about to push. I didn’t know anything was about to happen. Then 10 fingers, 10 toes, and I just freaked out a little bit,” the mom said. “But then I got my composure. I dialed 911. I turned off the water. I got a blanket around [the newborn]. I got the towel around me, and the rest is history.”
FDNY Engine 306 was the first to arrive and cut tiny Ellen’s umbilical cord — and quickly realized the infant was in cardiac arrest.
EMTs from the Queens tactical response group and Station 39 Lt. Guailaceia began CPR on the baby, sustaining her long enough for a trip to the hospital, where she regained her pulse and began breathing.
The newborn soon burst into vigorous tears — a welcome sign that she had survived.
Traore didn’t realize how close her daughter had been to death until hours later.
The new mom was also rushed into the hospital for emergency surgery because the baby’s placenta did not pass.
Her infant had to stay at the hospital for four months to get the care she needed and was finally released on Christmas Eve.
“She’s thriving! She’s walking. She’s learning to crawl. She’s learning to stand up. She’s bottle feeding now,” Traore said of Ellen. “It’s getting slowly there, getting the [physical therapy and occupational therapy] that she does need.”
For Guailaceia and his team of five, who also attended the ceremony Wednesday, the experience was nothing short of a “miracle.
“We gave this little soul a second chance at life,” he said. “You know, I have a child too so, to see her and how she’s thriving is just a beautiful, wonderful feeling.”
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