By Joe Pelletier / The Enterprise / Posted May 16, 2018 at 7:45 PM

It was a birthday blessing that firefighter Tom Baker and one Easton family won’t soon forget.

Baker, celebrating his 35th birthday, helped deliver a baby girl Wednesday morning in the back of an Easton ambulance outside of a home on Victory Lane.

It was an exhilarating, almost unbelievable morning for the parents, Eric and Carly Shabshelowitz, who gave all thanks to Baker and the firefighters who helped deliver their newborn in, well, unusual circumstances.

“They were all amazing,” Carly Shabshelowitz told The Enterprise on Wednesday as she recovered at Good Samaritan Medical Center in Brockton. “Because it just happened so fast. I couldn’t believe how quickly it all happened, and I’m so grateful for everything the firefighters did.”

In back of ambulance, Easton firefighters help deliver newborn Hannah Victoria Shabshelowitz promptly at 9:05 a.m.

Victoria wasn’t originally planned to be her middle name, Eric said — “but she was born on Victoria Lane,” he laughed.

The birthing process happened in a flash, the parents said. Carly’s water broke around 8:45 a.m. and Eric immediately dialed 911.

Baker and fellow Easton firefighters Tim Sweeney, Fred Chute and Lt. Bill Fralick responded to the call, and arrived at their Victory Lane home in a flash. They carried Carly out of the home on a stretcher, then transferred her into the ambulance around 9 a.m.

“We thought we’d have time to make it to Good Samaritan,” Eric Shabshelowitz said. “But our baby girl had a different idea.”

This was Carly’s second child, and she said she soon realized the birth would be happening in the ambulance.

“I had a moment where I realized there wasn’t a doctor,” she said. “But they were all totally calm. They didn’t look nervous at all, and talked me through it.” Baker, the eight-year paramedic, coolly delivered the baby, got help from Sweeney in swaddling it, and presented her back to her mother.

“You just don’t expect any of that to happen,” Baker said. “That’s what’s so great about this job — you never know what you’ll walk into.”

Fire Chief Kevin Partridge said it was the first delivery by Easton firefighters in close to 25 years. Wednesday, he presented each of the four firefighters with a traditional stork pin.

“I’m so proud of these firefighters for their quick response and assistance in helping this woman deliver a healthy baby girl,” Partridge said.