Bellport woman gives birth on kitchen floor

Talk about a quick delivery.

South Country Ambulance and Suffolk County Police Department (SCPD) helped deliver baby Kendall Budiarjo mere moments after arriving to the call.

When Louisa Budiarjo got a call from her son at 7:28 a.m. saying his wife was in labor, Budiarjo figured maybe she’d get a glimpse of her family before they left for the hospital.

But when she arrived at her son’s house two minutes later, she was met with a chaotic scene. Her son was on the phone with a 911 dispatcher; her grandson, four-year-old Kennedy, was crying and latched onto his father’s legs; and her daughter-in-law, Heather Warren, was on the kitchen floor, her water already broken, in a great deal of pain.

“This baby was determined to be delivered at home,” said Steve Bellone, Suffolk County executive, recounting the story for reporters, nearly seven weeks later, when the police and paramedics that helped deliver baby Kendall got to meet him for the first time since saving him.

Back at the scene, a quick-thinking grandpa, Luhur Budiarjo, waited in front of his son’s house and flagged down police and EMTs as they arrived.

“It’s a really quiet neighborhood so I went outside to make sure they knew the house,” he said.

Also, by that time, Warren’s parents arrived. Her mother, Judy Warren, was shocked to find out that Heather Warren wouldn’t be getting in an ambulance. It was too late. She’d be delivering right there, on the kitchen floor.

“You hear of people having babies in different places, but I didn’t ever actually know anybody who did,” she said.

By 7:39 a.m. baby Kendall was born, just moments after police and paramedics were called to the scene. But the exhilaration of his birth was short-lived when paramedics realized he was born with the umbilical cord wrapped around his neck.

“It took a couple of seconds for me to figure out that he was ‘out’ and then I said ‘Why isn’t my baby crying,’” recalled Heather Warren in the tense moments after she delivered.

Paramedics worked quickly to remove the umbilical cord, but, still baby Kendall showed signs of distress and required additional medical attention at the scene.

When Heather Warren heard her baby cry for the first time, she felt immediate relief.

“It was a total sense of relief and we don’t take a single cry for granted now,” she said.

Her mother was relieved as well.

“It made me cry to hear him cry. It still does,” she said.

That day, two SCPD officers responded: Ryan Quarte and James Tagliamonte. And, baby Kendall was delivered with the help of five South County ambulance personnel: Greg Miglino, Joseph Craig, Luis Salinas, Danielle Hanley and Anna Lasorsa.

“We pass the South Country ambulance every day and not a day goes by where we don’t look at it and say thank you,” said Heather Warren.