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‘Dream Team’ delivers baby in Glencoe home
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Updated: February 11, 2013 11:06AM
GLENCOE — Her name is Jill, no last name please, at least in print.
But to the four members of the Glencoe Public Safety “Dream Team,” as Jill likes to call them, she’s on a first name basis.
Four minutes away from the Hazel Avenue fire station, Jill’s door is always open to the four who, on Jan. 23, delivered her baby, Tyler, weighing in at 7 pounds, 10 ounces. They are Lt. Betsy Seno and officers John Cegielski, Debbie Litwitz and Dan Rategan,
“Oh my gosh, thank you, forever,” said Jill, who on Jan. 29 welcomed Seno, Cegielski, Litwitz into her home for an impromptu baby shower.
“It’s just a miracle,” said Seno, who marveled over the sleeping newborn in his mother’s arms. Nearby, baked treats in Jill’s kitchen also welcomed the crew.
Seno presented Jill with a gift of an official Glencoe insignia newborn shirt.
“Obviously this is just above and beyond,” said Jill.
Tyler also received a red fire helmet, as did his big brother Thomas, 2.
Seno recalled the sequence of events from Jan. 23.
“Around 8 p.m. at night, the mom called 911, and said, ‘You know, I’m in labor. I think my baby’s coming,’” said Seno, a Northbrook resident.
At 8:11 p.m., Seno rushed upstairs (at Jill’s home) where the expectant mother was resting on her side.
“I asked if this was the first baby,” said Seno. “I said, ‘I just need to check you to see if we can get you down to the ambulance.’”
At this point: “Oh my goodness, you could see the outline of the baby’s head and I said, ‘We’re not going anywhere, we’re going to prepare for delivery right here.’”
Four minutes later, Tyler entered the world.
“After her baby delivered, she (Jill) said, ‘You guys are my dream team,” said Seno, proudly.
This isn’t the first time Seno delivered an infant. About nine years ago, Seno delivered a baby for a Glenview family in the front seat of a car at Lake Cook Road near the Edens expressway.
Cegielski was also on that call.
“The cord cutter,” is how Cegielski described his role.
Cegielski cut the umbilical cord at the highway delivery and also Jan. 23.
Of Tyler’s birth, said Litwitz: “You know, it’s so nice to have an ambulance call that ends in such a happy, happy, happy result.”
“A lot of what we see sometimes is very traumatic, very heart-wrenching, and this was absolutely awesome,” Litwitz said.
The Dream Team transported mom and baby to Evanston Hospital, but not before prepping Tyler. “The nurses thought it was hysterical,” said Seno, when they saw Tyler. “The baby was in a sleeper with a hat on his head and diaper. Full service!
“We put him under the heat lamps, they (nurses) unwrapped his blanket and said, ‘I can’t believe this, look at this! He’s dressed!”
“Will there be a three-peat for the trifecta? I don’t know,” said Seno, laughing. “Really, I have three kids. I have three jobs tied into one, and now this is the second (career) delivery. That would be too funny …”
