A First Birthday at Fire Station 69

Gigi St. John Miller celebrated her first birthday in an unusual way by having the party at the place she was born: Fire Station 69 at Sunset and Carey. Last November 22, Gigi made a dramatic and “untimely” entrance into the world in the front seat of a Suburban parked at the rear of the fire station’right into the arms of Paramedic John Keys. At the time, her parents, Ram and Carolyn Miller, were living on Beirut while their house on Embury was under construction. Having been induced for her previous two children, Caroline was in no hurry to get to the hospital when her contractions began. She decided to take a shower first. Her husband wondered if that was a good idea, but didn’t argue, and they began their trip to St. John’s Hospital in Santa Monica at 1:35 a.m. They were on Sunset when Carolyn said that the baby was coming “now,” so Ram pulled into the fire station and called on the emergency phone located outside the station. Keyes, accompanied by Gary Johnson, opened the back door of the station to find Carolyn giving birth. Keyes delivered the baby. The umbilical cord was wrapped around her neck, but he calmly untangled it and then cut the cord. The baby was then wrapped in blankets and driven with mom in an ambulance to the hospital. While Caroline was recovering in her hospital bed, she thought about her experience. “Originally we were going to call the baby Gigi Christine,” she said, “but I wanted to do something to honor the firemen who helped deliver her, so instead we named her Gigi St. John.” The John comes from “John” Keyes and from Gary “John”son. When a baby isn’t born in a hospital the parents must go to City Hall to get a birth certificate. In order to prove that she was born at the fire station, the Millers took the article about Gigi’s birth from the Palisadian-Post, as well as a bill for the ambulance from the fire department. Gigi’s older brother Jake, 6, who attends Corpus Christi, loves telling the story of his sister’s birth. “One of the most wonderful things about this experience is that others share their labor stories with me,” Caroline said. On December 6, the Millers brought lasagna and salad to Station 69. Brothers Jake, and Cole, 4, joined in the celebration by asking the firemen questions and trying on gear. Baskin- Robbins donated a birthday cake for the party. “We’re planning to make Gigi’s birthday party an annual event,” Keyes told the Post. Ram Miller added, “The guys at the station are terrific, and they helped us before. About three years ago, my son Jake, who is deathly allergic to bees, but we didn’t know it at the time, was stung and started to go into anaphylactic shock. My wife rushed him to the fire station and they saved his life.”