Members of Engine 37 Help Deliver Baby in Harlem

Two firefighters from Engine 37 who helped a Harlem mother deliver one of her two twins early on the morning of Feb. 3 were reunited with the grateful mom at her bedside at Harlem Hospital.

"I was so relieved when they came to my rescue today," Pattie Jacobs, 34, of Harlem told reporters gathered at her bedside that afternoon. "It was a beautiful day."

Jacobs had just finished getting her 8-year-old son Malik ready for school and out the door, as she began feeling labor pains. Shortly after he left, Jacobs went into labor with the first of the twins she's been expecting. She immediately called 911 and firefighters were dispatched to her apartment on Convent Avenue shortly after 7 a.m.

Firefighter John Behringer, a nine-year veteran, and Firefighter Michael Schneider, a three-year veteran, arrived with other members of their company to find the door ajar and Jacobs standing there holding the child, who wasn't breathing. They immediately went to work, using a bulb syringe to get the child breathing and cut the umbilical cord.

As a father of three himself, Behringer said his instincts as a father and a firefighter both helped guide him.

EMS crews arrived just a minute later and transported Jacobs to Harlem Hospital, where she gave birth to her other newborn, Madison.

Caption for one attached photo: Pictured (L-R): Firefighters John Behringer and Michael Schneider of Engine 37 with Pattie Jacobs, 34, and one of her twin newborns, Michael, who the firefighters helped her deliver at her apartment in Harlem early the morning of Feb. 3.