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CNN Saturday Morning News

Interview with Melissa Silk, Maureen Silverman

Aired August 23, 2003 - 09:24   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: The investigation into last week's power outage may be zeroing in on some answers now. Northeastern Ohio is still suspected as the starting zone, but now there may be new clues in the hours before the blackout. Utility companies say the electricity's flow reversed itself and started surging in the wrong direction. The current was so overwhelming, transmission lines came close to burning. Hours later, 50 million people in eight states were in the dark.
So where were you when the lights went out? Our next guest will never forget where she was when the recent blackout hit. Melissa Silk was at home in the Toronto area giving birth to her daughter, Alexa. Midwife Maureen Silverman was with Melissa. And they are joining us this morning.

Good morning to the both of you, and hello to baby Alexa.

MELISSA SILK, BLACKOUT BABY MOTHER: Good morning.

COLLINS: Very sweet. We'll talk fast so she doesn't cry. Melissa, tell me, quickly, what happened?

SILK: It was interesting. About 1:00 in the morning I felt my first contractions, and sort of let them go until they were about six minutes apart. And at that time, that's when I tried to get ahold of my midwives, Maureen and Rosemary, and couldn't, because the paging systems were down, and I had no way of getting ahold of them.

So for about 10 minutes, I was quite stressed, trying to figure out, What am I going to do? So I eventually called the hospital, and they, luckily, had their home phone number. So they got ahold of me, about 10, 15 minutes later.

COLLINS: OK. So Maureen, tell us, now, you couldn't get there right away. What happened for you?

MAUREEN SILVERMAN, BLACKOUT BABY MIDWIFE: That's right. Well, these births, of course, are particularly memorable because of the blackout and the challenges that we faced. We rely completely on our cell phones and our pagers. And they were down, and we didn't know that people were trying to get ahold of us. So everybody had to be quite creative in reaching us.

COLLINS: In fact, you only arrived there eight minutes before Alexa was born. SILVERMAN: That's correct. But she did have another midwife with her, because two midwives are always present for every birth. And so Rosemary was able to get out first. I, when I jumped in my car, realized that I was practically on empty with my gasoline. And when I passed the first gas station, the lineup was about a mile long. So I realized I wasn't going to stop there.

When I got to their house, and after the baby was born and everything had settled down, I said to Darryn (ph) and Melissa, you know, I have to go to another birth, it's 40 kilometers away. I don't have any gas. Do you know what your stations are like here?

COLLINS: Wow.

SILVERMAN: And they said, Well, everything's down. So Darryn saved the day. His tank was full of gas, and he said, I'll siphon you off some. And he and his brother...

COLLINS: So...

SILVERMAN: ... worked away on that.

COLLINS: Well, there you have it. And we are looking at just the most beautiful little baby girl, Alexa, behaving quite well, actually.

Melissa, real quickly, before we let you off the hook here, had you ever expected to have the baby in the dark? I mean, you'd planned on having her at home, but in the dark, without power?

SILK: Not at all, and it was quite funny, because when it all started, I'm, like, Wouldn't it be odd if I had this baby tonight? And because of the power failure, I didn't -- had two hours outside of the city to help my sister prepare for her wedding on the weekend, which was lucky, because this baby -- I would have been away from my midwives, would have been awful, and in a hospital, which I really didn't want.

So, no, it was lucky that the power failure happened in that sense. That's (UNINTELLIGIBLE).

COLLINS: Hah. All right. So careful what you wish for, I guess, huh?

SILK: Yes, yes.

COLLINS: All right, ladies, thank you so much. Maureen Silverman, the midwife in this case, and Melissa Silk, giving birth to baby Alexa during the power outage. Good job. And Alexa will have quite a story to tell.

SILK: Indeed.

SILVERMAN: Thank you.

SILK: Thank you. COLLINS: Thanks.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com







Aired August 23, 2003 - 09:24   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: The investigation into last week's power outage may be zeroing in on some answers now. Northeastern Ohio is still suspected as the starting zone, but now there may be new clues in the hours before the blackout. Utility companies say the electricity's flow reversed itself and started surging in the wrong direction. The current was so overwhelming, transmission lines came close to burning. Hours later, 50 million people in eight states were in the dark.
So where were you when the lights went out? Our next guest will never forget where she was when the recent blackout hit. Melissa Silk was at home in the Toronto area giving birth to her daughter, Alexa. Midwife Maureen Silverman was with Melissa. And they are joining us this morning.

Good morning to the both of you, and hello to baby Alexa.

MELISSA SILK, BLACKOUT BABY MOTHER: Good morning.

COLLINS: Very sweet. We'll talk fast so she doesn't cry. Melissa, tell me, quickly, what happened?

SILK: It was interesting. About 1:00 in the morning I felt my first contractions, and sort of let them go until they were about six minutes apart. And at that time, that's when I tried to get ahold of my midwives, Maureen and Rosemary, and couldn't, because the paging systems were down, and I had no way of getting ahold of them.

So for about 10 minutes, I was quite stressed, trying to figure out, What am I going to do? So I eventually called the hospital, and they, luckily, had their home phone number. So they got ahold of me, about 10, 15 minutes later.

COLLINS: OK. So Maureen, tell us, now, you couldn't get there right away. What happened for you?

MAUREEN SILVERMAN, BLACKOUT BABY MIDWIFE: That's right. Well, these births, of course, are particularly memorable because of the blackout and the challenges that we faced. We rely completely on our cell phones and our pagers. And they were down, and we didn't know that people were trying to get ahold of us. So everybody had to be quite creative in reaching us.

COLLINS: In fact, you only arrived there eight minutes before Alexa was born. SILVERMAN: That's correct. But she did have another midwife with her, because two midwives are always present for every birth. And so Rosemary was able to get out first. I, when I jumped in my car, realized that I was practically on empty with my gasoline. And when I passed the first gas station, the lineup was about a mile long. So I realized I wasn't going to stop there.

When I got to their house, and after the baby was born and everything had settled down, I said to Darryn (ph) and Melissa, you know, I have to go to another birth, it's 40 kilometers away. I don't have any gas. Do you know what your stations are like here?

COLLINS: Wow.

SILVERMAN: And they said, Well, everything's down. So Darryn saved the day. His tank was full of gas, and he said, I'll siphon you off some. And he and his brother...

COLLINS: So...

SILVERMAN: ... worked away on that.

COLLINS: Well, there you have it. And we are looking at just the most beautiful little baby girl, Alexa, behaving quite well, actually.

Melissa, real quickly, before we let you off the hook here, had you ever expected to have the baby in the dark? I mean, you'd planned on having her at home, but in the dark, without power?

SILK: Not at all, and it was quite funny, because when it all started, I'm, like, Wouldn't it be odd if I had this baby tonight? And because of the power failure, I didn't -- had two hours outside of the city to help my sister prepare for her wedding on the weekend, which was lucky, because this baby -- I would have been away from my midwives, would have been awful, and in a hospital, which I really didn't want.

So, no, it was lucky that the power failure happened in that sense. That's (UNINTELLIGIBLE).

COLLINS: Hah. All right. So careful what you wish for, I guess, huh?

SILK: Yes, yes.

COLLINS: All right, ladies, thank you so much. Maureen Silverman, the midwife in this case, and Melissa Silk, giving birth to baby Alexa during the power outage. Good job. And Alexa will have quite a story to tell.

SILK: Indeed.

SILVERMAN: Thank you.

SILK: Thank you. COLLINS: Thanks.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com