‘I went from teaching a class to having a baby in about 15 minutes’: Teacher gives birth in school parking lot

OLD TOWN, Maine (WABI/Gray News) - School officials at a Maine high school witnessed what they’re calling a “miracle” Tuesday afternoon.

Tori Hildreth, the school’s Jobs for Maine Graduates instructor at Old Town High School, was in her classroom counting down the hours until she would meet her second daughter.

Hildreth, who was full-term, started experiencing contractions, so she picked up the phone and called her mom.

Little did she know that minutes later, she would be welcoming her second baby in the teachers parking lot.

“At 2:07 p.m. I called my mom, and by 2:18 p.m. the ambulance had been called because I was holding her in my arms in the parking lot. I went from teaching a class to having a baby in about 15 minutes,” Hildreth said.

The school’s resource officer, Willy King, and the school nurse, Jana Caron, were on hand to help, but baby Bella Dieuveuill leaped into nurse Caron’s arms before EMS arrived.

“Her composure, toughness and focus are remarkable. She’s one tough lady,” said school nurse Jana Caron of Hildreth. “Whenever she gets stabilized, she walked over to the stretcher and she lays herself down and she’s like, ‘See you in three months!’”

An added twist to baby Bella’s arrival: Hildreth’s father, Capt. Mike Hildreth of the Old Town Fire Department, was filling in on shift that day and arrived at the scene in the fire truck.

“He showed up and started crying. My mom and I were both in shock,” Hildreth said. “He’s the first one to respond to a maternity call that it was his daughter, and that is probably true. That’s some small-town stuff right there, I would say.”

“It really was a nice family reunion in a really unconventional way,” Caron said.

Baby Bella, who was born two weeks early, weighed 6 pounds, 4 ounces and was 19 inches long. Both Mom and baby are home and doing well.

Many staff and students said they are still in disbelief.

“They’re popping their heads in my office. ‘You delivered a baby?’ I’m like, ‘I sure did,’” Caron said.

“I am thankful that my daughters are growing up in a community where people give that love and support,” Hildreth said.

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