Pattie Jacobs woke
up at 5 a.m.
Wednesday in pain —
nothing unusual for
a woman who’d been
pregnant eight
months with twins.
So she sent her
8-year-old son to
school and waited
for it to subside.
It didn’t. About
7:12 a.m., she went
to the bathroom and
sat on the toilet.
Then, as she
recalled hours
later, "My baby came
flying out."
She said to her
self, “Oh, God,” and
dialed 911 on her
cell phone.
The dispatcher told
Jacobs, 34, to wrap
the crying boy in a
towel and get to her
apartment door.
Somehow she did, and
before she could
start panicking, two
firefighters were
reaching down to
help her.
Harlem mother Pattie
Jacobs reunites with
firefighters John
Behringer, left, and
Mike Schneider, on
Feb. 3, 2010. (Jon
Schuppe/DNAinfo)They
were from Engine 37
on 125th Street,
around the corner
from Jacobs’s
Convent Avenue
building. One of
them, John Behringer,
suctioned the
newborn's mouth and
nose. The other,
Mike Schneider, cut
the umbilical cord.
Together, they
helped Jacobs into
an ambulance for
Harlem Hospital. The
second twin, a girl,
was born just after
8 a.m. Both babies
were transferred to
the intensive care
unit, where they
were reportedly
doing fine.
Later that day,
Behringer and
Schneider returned
to the hospital to
check in on Jacobs.
They brought her
stuffed animals and
a firehouse t-shirt,
which she clutched
in her hands as they
relived the
morning’s ordeal.
“I’m just so happy
it’s over,” Jacobs
said.
Behringer, a
nine-year member of
the fire department
and a father of
three, said this was
his first on-the-job
delivery. Same for
Schneider, who has
been a firefighter
for three years.
Both said they were
relieved they made
it to the hospital
before the second
baby arrived.
“It was pretty crazy
there for a while,”
Behringer said.
The firefighters
seemed uncomfortable
accepting so much
thanks. “She did all
the work,” Schneider
said. “We just
helped her out.”
It was after 4 p.m.
Jacobs still had not
seen her twins,
named Michael and
Madison. So the
nurses took her to
their cribs,
escorted by the two
firefighters.
