Pittsburgh Bureau of Emergency Medical Services crews are seeing an increase in out-of-hospital births in the field, such as in a car on the side of a roadway.

One of the city’s paramedics has now taken it into her own hands to tackle a common issue they face during those births: the cold.

“I’ve crocheted two hats for each unit, just in case you have twins,” paramedic crew chief Briana Kramer said. 

She’s made 36 in total for the newborns.  

“They are a precious little population. They’re a population I find near and dear to my heart,” Kramer said. 

But she said the beanies aren’t just a cute accessory, especially when a birth happens on the side of the road.

“I had a little bit of anxiety with the cold temperatures being negative 10 degrees a lot of nights,” she said. 

She pointed to a field delivery last January that she was on hand for. 

“Perfectly healthy baby. Their only issue was that they were hypothermic,” Kramer said.

They didn’t have hats in their kits then, so a small towel was placed around that newborn’s head. That specific instance, and the lack of hats, inspired her to start making the beanies.

“It is already such a unique and difficult thing to be born out of hospital,” Kramer said. 

EMS officials said they’ve gone from around eight pre-hospital births a year to 12 per year. Kramer said she believes the reason for the increase comes down to the health care system still recovering from COVID. 

“It’s hard for people to get in touch with primary care,” Kramer said. “The economy is really hard, just transportation for people to get to their appointments, to get to the hospital when it’s delivery time.”

It means people are waiting until the last second to go to the hospital. She’s also noticed an increase in winter out-of-hospital births.

“It’s a little concerning. Changes the way we prep for things a little bit,” Kramer said.

She hopes the beanies will go home with the newborns, and families will keep them as a reminder of how Pittsburgh EMS helped bring them into this world.

“It’s a little emotional,” Kramer said. “It’s a little piece of me that is going home with them.”

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