'Super Dad' Tinley Park Firefighter Delivers Own Daughter At Home

TINLEY PARK, IL — Kristin Kushner missed her own baby shower before the birth of her first daughter—who arrived early at just 27 weeks—so she was going all out to get ready for the "sprinkle"family had planned for their second. Kushner had just gotten her hair and nails done for the occasion, when the contractions started.

At just 36 weeks that January day, Kushner had hoped to make it to 37, but suspected throughout the pregnancy that she might deliver early again. Her husband Jeff, a Tinley Park firefighter and firefighter/paramedic in Oak Brook, had joked she would "get paid back" for her abbreviated first pregnancy with extra gestational weeks. Turns out baby had other plans, entirely.

An hour after the contractions began and following a call to Kushner's doctor, they had gotten into the car to leave for the hospital, when the pain became too intense. Kushner's water broke, and Jeff realized they wouldn't make it to the hospital. They called 911, and Jeff checked the progress of his wife's labor.

There was their daughter, crowning.

"This is it, this is why I’m here, we’re doing this here," Jeff remembers telling her. "Sorry, you’re not getting any pain meds."

Ten minutes later, Jeff delivered his first baby ever—their own daughter. Charli Ann Kushner arrived Jan. 19.

"My daughter opens up her eyes, starts crying and moving," he said. "She’s pink, she’s warm. My daughter’s staring at me, I’m staring back at her."

The whole thing was such a whirlwind, said the two former Tinley Park residents and alumni of Victor J. Andrew High School.

"What the heck happened?” Jeff, 34, said the paramedics asked him when they arrived at the couple's New Lenox home. "I've been a medic for 12 years, and the first baby I delivered, just happened to be my own daughter."

Kushner—who had hoped for an epidural this time—said she was just stunned as her husband, but she was grateful that although born early, their daughter was a perfectly healthy 5 pounds, measuring 18 inches long.

"Jeff got to cut the cord, which he didn’t just get to do the first time," said Kushner, 35."She did awesome, she was wide-eyed and looking at everyone. She was just as wide-eyed as we were. She was super-healthy, everyone did great."

Their first daughter, Kelsea, was born prematurely at 27 weeks, weighing just 2 pounds. She experienced some complications, and was kept at Lurie's Children Hospital for nearly three months, Jeff said.

The mother and daughter were taken to the hospital for evaluation, but were home by the next day. Kushner praised her husband's quick thinking, and calm demeanor throughout the birth.

"He’s Super Dad for sure," she said. "He did so awesome, he was so calm during the delivery. He went right into work mode, knew exactly what to do."