Baby girl introduced to paramedic who saved her life

A three-month-old baby has been reunited with the London Ambulance Service paramedic who saved her life during a dramatic lead up to her arrival.

Fia Siciliano was born last October after mum Therese, 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 immediately dialled 999 and within minutes Paramedic Katie Vaughan arrived in a fast response car. She quickly recognised that Therese’s condition could be life-threatening for Fia and called for backup.

Therese 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’.”

But despite everyone fearing the worst, the staff of St George’s Hospital in South London heard Fia’s heartbeat.

Paramedic Katie conceded that was a career-topping moment and added: “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.

Only a week later, Therese contacted London Ambulance Service with a touching letter praising Katie’s outstanding care. They have now met in an emotional reunion at Wimbledon Ambulance Station.

Therese said: “Katie made me feel so safe and comfortable.

“I will always remember and cherish the hug she 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.

“Thank you for making a terrible time something I can look back on and still remember beautifully.”

Every year, LAS receives approximately 13,000 pregnancy-related emergency calls. LAS was the first ambulance trust in the UK to establish a maternity team, which has been training clinicians and supporting call handlers since 2015.

Camella Main, Lead Midwife at London Ambulance Service, 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. I am so proud of Katie for doing such an incredible job and contributing to an amazing outcome.”