Definitely a home improvement project: Troopers, firefighter deliver baby in parking lot of Waterloo Lowe’s | News

WATERLOO — Ashley Finnemore woke up Monday morning and knew that it was the day her baby was going to enter the world.

What she didn’t know was this: that Dahlia Elizabeth Finnemore would be born in the parking lot of Lowe’s Home Improvement on Routes 5&20 shortly before 8 a.m., thanks to the efforts of two state troopers and a Border City firefighter.

“Ashley came into my office in the morning and said she was not doing well,” said her husband, Dave. “I asked her if she thought we should go (to F.F. Thompson Hospital, where the baby was to be delivered) and she said yes.”

As they drove up Route 96A from their home in Romulus, Ashley said there was no way that they were going to make it to Canandaigua, so Dave, approaching the Routes 5&20 intersection, quickly crossed the road, drove into Lowe’s parking lot, and called 911.

State Troopers Joseph Vinci and Alexander Mullen were eating breakfast at Tucci’s Diner less than a mile away and rushed to the call for assistance immediately. So did Rebecca Weber, a Border City firefighter, who had just put her children on the school bus at 7:45 a.m.

“How quick was it?” Weber said. “That baby was born at 7:52 a.m.”

Weber helped Ashley focus and, together with the troopers, delivered Dahlia, who the Finnemores are calling Dolly.

“She came out crying, breathing, and she was beautiful,” Dave said.

Dave said North Seneca Ambulance arrived a short time later. Ashley had the baby on her chest, and they were bundled up and whisked away to the hospital in Canandaigua.

“I am usually pretty calm,” Dave said. “I got to the hospital a little before Ashley and Dolly, and the labor and delivery people let me into the room where they were going to bring them. It wasn’t until then that I caught my breath and thought, wait, what just happened?”

Both Ashley and Dahlia were admitted to the hospital and are doing well, Dave said.

The troopers came to the hospital a few hours later to see the Finnemores and to bring gifts for Dahlia, who weighed in at 6 pounds, 10 ounces.

“We probably wouldn’t have chosen to do it this way, but we were really happy they were part of it,” Dave said.

Mullen and Vinci said this was the first time they had assisted with a birth in their role as troopers, but Vinci was in the delivery room with his wife when she had their son, so he knew what to expect.

“I pulled in the parking lot, and (Ashley) was screaming,” Mullen said. “We were asking them questions, trying to see how far along she was, and they really didn’t know. And then things started happening really fast.”

Vinci said at calls that have such a positive outcome, “as police officers we try to remain humble, but this makes us realize the beauty of the whole thing.”

This is the Finnemores’ fifth child. Ashley, 39, has two teenagers from a previous marriage; Dave, 35, has an 11-year-old son. Together, they have a son, Henry David, who turned a year old Nov. 7.

“Ashley’s daughter couldn’t go to school on Monday. She had to stay home to watch Henry while they rushed off to the hospital,” said Gerry Clingerman of Lyons, Wayne County’s Democratic elections commissioner and Ashley’s father.

Clingerman noted that his granddaughter arrived four weeks early, but Ashley had predicted that.

“I saw (Ashley) over the weekend, and she said, ‘Look how big my belly is!’” Clingerman said. “I knew, when I saw Dave’s number in my phone on Monday morning, that she must have had the baby.”