New San Marino Parents Provide Lunch for SMFD In Appreciation For Baby Delivery

The San Marino Fire Department received a special lunch delivery this past Monday in appreciation for a very special delivery made by firefighter/paramedics earlier in the month.

San Marino residents Vivi and Erik Wahl arranged for Gus’s BBQ in South Pasadena to deliver lunch to the fire station on Sept. 26.

SMFD delivered the couple’s new baby boy, Rakesh, who was actually born in his soon-to-be-room at 8:09 a.m. on Sept. 15.

“I began having contractions a little after 7 a.m. and realized labor could be beginning and I thought I would get my three daughters off to school and then head to the hospital with my husband,” Vivi said. “I assumed I had enough time to do so. But about half an hour later I was in a lot of pain and it was obvious to me that I wouldn’t make it to the hospital and that the baby was about to make his way out.”

She said she asked her husband to dial 911 at approximately 7:48 a.m.

San Marino resident Vivi Wahl with her newborn, Rakesh, and San Marino Fire Department firefighter/paramedic Shawn Stewart on their way to the hospital on Sept. 15.
San Marino resident Vivi Wahl with her newborn, Rakesh, and San Marino Fire Department firefighter/paramedic Shawn Stewart on their way to the hospital on Sept. 15.

“The whole thing was incredibly fast and I am so grateful to Shawn Stewart and the other members of the San Marino Fire Department who assisted with the delivery,” Vivi said. “They arrived very quickly, had excellent training, and were calm and professional despite the stressful circumstances.”

Rakesh, Viv explained, is “an Indian name which means Lord of the Full Moon Day and as it turns out he was born the day before the full moon.”

He will join the Wahl’s three girls: Leela, 6, Ayanna, 3, and Devika, 2.