All-Star Baby

Alton Memorial Hospital Nurse Helps With Delivery in Ground Floor Hallway

July 29, 2009
ALTON, IL � Becky Duncan won�t soon forget the day that the 2009 All-Star Game was played in St. Louis. And it has nothing to do with baseball�or almost nothing.
Duncan gave birth to her second daughter, Leslie Nicole, in the hallway of Alton Memorial Hospital�s Ground Floor on Tuesday at 10:45 a.m. An Emergency Department nurse was racing Becky Duncan in a wheelchair toward the elevator that would take her to the OB unit, but Leslie Nicole refused to wait.
That�s when Albert Pujols came to the rescue, as he always seems to do. In this case, however, it was actually OB nurse Bette Fay wearing a Pujols jersey. All AMH employees were encouraged to wear red shirts Tuesday in honor of the All-Star Game. Fay was dressed accordingly.
Fortunately for Duncan, Fay had knee surgery three weeks ago and is on restricted duty. She�s been working in the Occupational Health office, located only about 50 feet down the hall from where Leslie Nicole Duncan decided to make her entrance.
�I was just going down the hall to get some bubble gum,� said Fay, who has been an OB nurse at AMH since 1973. �But then I see the ED nurse coming at me with this lady in a wheelchair with her legs spread out wide. I knew what that meant.�
Restricted duty immediately became regular duty for Fay. She turned the wheelchair toward the open door of an office to give the Duncans some semblance or privacy, then went to work.
Between Fay�s expertise and nature taking its course, things took only a few minutes.
�Bette is my guardian angel,� said Becky Duncan, a Wood River resident. �That was amazing. The baby crowned just as we got to the Emergency Department entrance.
They were just trying to get me to OB as fast as they could when she came out.�
Becky�s parents, Dave and Julie Young of Wood River, were more than grateful as they sat in Becky�s room several hours later.
�There wasn�t any time to ask who Bette was,� Julie Young said. �But with a good nurse, it�s obvious right away. Bette made everyone comfortable and took charge of the situation. We can�t ever thank her enough. How lucky was it that she was down in that hallway?�
As if giving birth on the same day the All-Star Game is played in St. Louis and having the baby delivered by a nurse in an Albert Pujols jersey isn�t enough, Leslie Nicole�s father�s name is the same as one of Pujols� teammates � Chris Duncan. He brought Becky to the hospital and stayed for several hours until taking a break to go home and watch their older daughter, Chyann, 4.
�No, we won�t forget when this All-Star Game was played,� Dave Young said as he admired his new granddaughter.
Becky said that her oldest daughter is already a baseball fan. And for this family, Bette Fay is a unanimous addition to the All-Star lineup.

PHOTO BY DAVE WHALEY
Alton Memorial Hospital OB nurse Bette Fay, left, with Becky Duncan and her new daughter, Leslie Nicole, born Tuesday morning in an AMH hallway.

For more information, contact Dave Whaley
Senior Coordinator, Public Relations
(618) 433-7947 � drw5445@bjc.org
www.altonmemorialhospital.org