Deputy delivers when mother goes into labor at home

In his nearly 30 year career as an Ozaukee County Sheriff’s deputy, Ron Noll had pretty much seen it all. 

Except for one thing. He had never delivered a baby.

On Saturday, he got to check that off his list.

Patty Krueger’s plans that morning to have breakfast with her daughter, Kimberly Sorheim, of West Bend, were interrupted when her 14-year-old grandson, Owen, called to tell her that her other daughter, Brianna Hackbarth, was in labor and needed her.

“I said, ‘She better be in labor,’ because I was really looking forward to this breakfast,” she said.

She rushed back to her Town of Fredonia home, where Hackbarth and her three children live with her and her husband, Ed.

Hackbarth wasn’t just in labor; she was about to give birth.

“She was in the garage looking like she was going to start pushing,” Krueger said. “We told her not to and my husband called 911. She was in full labor. There was no way she was going to make it to the hospital.”

Not far away, Noll was following up on a theft complaint in the Village of Fredonia when he got the rescue call.

On the way to the Krueger house, Noll said he went over in his mind his rookie training on emergency childbirth, which he had never had to use. 

“Fortunately, I was one of the role players so I actually had some hands-on training,” he said. “I just reverted back to that training.”

When he arrived, he was directed to the master bedroom, where Hackbarth was being cared for by Krueger.

“Clearly she was ready to give birth,” Noll said. “She wasn’t crowning yet, but she was having contractions and was very concerned that it was going to happen very soon.”

Krueger said she and Hackbarth were “freaking out,” but Noll’s calm demeanor settled them down. 

“Ron was so calm and I’m freaking out,” she said. “He looked at me and, with his eyes, he calmed me down and then I was able to help Brianna.”

“Patty kept calling me Dr. Noll,” Noll said.

It didn’t take long before Hackbarth’s water broke. She shouted, “I think it’s coming,” and the baby, a little boy, arrived, Noll said.

“I was in position and thinking, ‘Once the baby comes out, we’ll be OK,’” Noll said. “I was more concerned with Brianna.”

The baby’s head crowned.

“I put my hands around the head and supported its shoulders and helped it out,” Noll said.

Sometime during the delivery, a Waubeka Fire Department EMT appeared; shortly after that a Waubeka ambulance arrived.

Noll was relieved because he could hand the baby over to the EMTs to suction out the baby’s airways and otherwise care for the baby.

“It seemed like an eternity before it took its first breath,” Noll said. “His little cry was amazing.”

The baby arrived three weeks before the due date of Sept. 10, Krueger said, and weighed in at 6 pounds, 3 ounces and 19 inches long.

The ambulance took Hackbarth and the baby to Aurora Medical Center in Grafton, where the baby remains in the neonatal intensive-care unit. Hackbarth came home on Monday.

The baby was named Henry Edward, after his uncle and grandfather, Krueger said.

“It was a great day,” said Noll, who has been a deputy for 29 years and eight months and plans on retiring in January. “I’ve had many people die in my arms. And now I have one who took their first breath in my arms. It was pretty dang cool. A great way to top off a career.”

“He was the lucky guy who got to deliver my grand baby,” Krueger said.