Yedida Rosenberg is a mother of eight, a grandmother, and a Magen David Adom EMT. All of those roles came together when she delivered her eldest daughter’s baby at home.
Her daughter Batsheva Cohen, 22, who lives in the community of Bracha, was nine months pregnant when she began feeling contractions. She called her mother and asked her to come over. Rosenberg, who is also a kindergarten teacher and had just finished teaching for the day, arrived with her MDA medical bag. She has been volunteering as an EMT along with her husband Benny for the past seven years.
After examining her daughter, Rosenberg concluded they wouldn’t make it to the hospital in time. She called MDA’s emergency hotline and asked them to dispatch an ambulance. “I knew that we would have a better chance of getting to the delivery room quickly in an MDA ambulance,” she said. But before the ambulance arrived, Cohen’s contractions became more frequent. Rosenberg prepared to deliver the baby.
Cohen delivered a baby girl at home, and Rosenberg was the first to hold her newborn granddaughter.
“I’m still processing it,” Rosenberg reflected. “Throughout my years at MDA I’ve assisted five women through emergency deliveries, in my community and beyond, and it’s always a moment that moves me. But this time was different. I had the honor of cutting the umbilical cord and hearing my granddaughter’s first breaths.”
The birth had a personal parallel. About 15 years ago, when Rosenberg was in active labor with her son, she called MDA to transport her to the hospital, but her labor went quickly and she delivered her son right in the ambulance under the care of MDA medics. That experience stayed with her and led her to become an EMT herself.
“I remember how much that MDA team meant to me during my own emergency birth, and it made me want to offer that same support to others, especially in communities far from hospitals,” Rosenberg shared.
“Today I was able to make use of that knowledge and professionalism while supporting my own daughter, both as a mother and as a medic at MDA.”
