Officers are on time to deliver early baby

FREEHOLD TOWNSHIP — Four township police officers made a new friend on April 7. His name is Kian Esmalla and the four officers helped to bring the 6-pound, 12- ounce baby boy into the world.

Calling the experience of helping Lumivi Esmalla deliver her baby in the early hours of April 7, "the most memorable experience of my career," Freehold Township police Sgt. Daniel Pasquinucci had the opportunity to put into practice what he has been preaching for years.

In addition to serving the township as a police officer, Pasquinucci is an emergency medical technician (EMT) and an instructor at the Monmouth County Police Academy Police Academy, Freehold Township.

Pasquinucci had nine years of training and instructing police recruits in the First Responder course to prepare him for the call that came in to Police Officer Karl White at 4:41 a.m. And yet, he had never actually had the opportunity to deliver a baby himself.

Pasquinucci, White, Police Officer Joseph Winowski and Police Officer Andrew Galaydick arrived simultaneously at the home on Pacer Lane where Lumivi Esmalla, 32, was in bed preparing to deliver her second child. She and her husband, Emilio, are also the parents of a son, Kyle, 3.

"We couldn't get access to the house right away," Pasquinucci explained. "But we heard mom screaming from the bedroom window on the second floor."

Pasquinucci said Emilio Esmalla then let the officers into the house. He said Lumivi Esmalla was not due for several weeks so her imminent delivery came as quite a surprise to the couple, who are both nurses.

"They had called the doctor who told them to get to the hospital, but then her water broke and the baby was on its way to being delivered," Pasquinucci said. "We get called a lot about a woman going into labor, but usually we get there and the first aid squad will take her to the hospital. This is the first time I was actually called upon to deliver a baby."

The delivery went smoothly, according to Pasquinucci.

"Although we are trained for emergencies and complications, we were glad this was more or less a textbook delivery," the sergeant said.

The baby was born just a few minutes after the officers arrived at the home.

"It seemed like an hour," Winowski said, "but it was really only about a minute."

"We ran up the stairs to the bedroom where mom was," Pasquinucci said. "By the time I got to her, I saw the baby's head crowning."

He said he delivered the head, then the shoulders, and then the baby cried right away — a good thing.

While Pasquinucci was at the mother's bedside, the other officers moved into action to gather necessary supplies. Winowski and Galaydick found baby blankets to wrap the infant in, and White went to the kitchen to try to find something that could be used to suction out the baby's mouth. He was looking for anything suitable for that task, even a turkey baster.

"I couldn't find anything though. I guess not too many people are cooking turkeys anymore," he said with a laugh.

White ended up using a piece of sterile gauze from his first aid kit, which sufficed until the Freehold First Aid Squad arrived and took over.

"It was a beautiful experience," said White, who is the father of four girls. "And I would do it all again."

The first aid squad members arrived within 10 minutes to take care of clamping the umbilical cord and transporting mom and baby to CentraState Medical Center.

When Pasquinucci arrived at the hospital to check on Lumivi, he ran into the doctor who delivered his own little girl, Eva, 3. He said he told Dr. Joseph Cipriano the story and the doctor offered to donate an obstetric kit for every patrol car in the township, all 22 of them, which will allow every officer to be prepared to clamp a baby's umbilical cord just in case the situation comes up again.

"This was a once-in-a-lifetime experience," Pasquinucci said.

"You see so many bad things as a police officer," Winowski said. "You need positive things like this to keep you going."

None of the officers — all of whom were trained by Pasquinucci in the First Responder course — had ever delivered a baby while on duty. Galaydick, who said he was "a bit nervous," called the event, "the highlight of my career."

"We see so many things that are not so good. This was so nice, to see actual life. You get a lot of calls like this and you cross your fingers until you get there. But at some point, it's time to really deliver the baby," Galaydick said.

Everyone remembers the first time they experienced something particularly special.

This particular "first time" will live for a long time in the memories of these four police officers who now have something else besides a badge and a code of honor to bond them together — a new life being born right before their eyes.