Jessica Lakeman was 36 weeks pregnant, one week short of her scheduled C-section.

When she started hemorrhaging at the family’s Fayetteville home last April, she and her husband J.D. were ready for it. Their obstetrician had warned them about a slight complication with the placenta seen in a previous exam, so it wasn’t as much of a surprise, the Lakemans said.

Because it happened after hours, J.D. called the doctor’s office and left a message with the paging service. Seconds later, after J.D. called 911, the doctor called back and said to skip the ambulance and bring Jessica to the hospital himself, right away.

Because of her blood loss, J.D. was told, Jessica and the baby were in immediate danger.

The 911 dispatcher sent an ambulance and medic crew over anyway, and they got there in four minutes, J.D. said. The anesthesiologist on Jessica’s operation said the medics’ quick work made the difference between life and death for mother and baby, J.D. said.

The medics had installed not one but two IVs and got fluids in her, which was crucial because she had lost so much blood, the anesthesiologist told the Lakemans. The second IV also allowed the hospital to transfuse blood to her much quicker, he said.

Plus, because she had lost so much blood the hospital staff couldn’t find an open vein to start another IV, J.D. added.

J.D. Lakeman is a Fayetteville police officer, and has seen plenty of folks in various stages of medical distress as part of his job. He figured he was ready to handle whatever came his way should Jessica’s pregnancy develop complications.

Then he saw how much blood Jessica was losing just before medics arrived.

“It looked like a crime scene,” J.D. recalled. That’s when it hit him: this was much more than a crime scene and his wife and son were in danger.

When the medics arrived on the scene, J.D. knew their general policy was to stabilize the patient and then head to the hospital. He wanted them to rush her off to the hospital instead.

“I’m glad they didn’t take my advice,” J.D. said.

Because the medics took the time to handle Jessica, but doing so quickly, ultimately saved her life and Jackson’s too, J.D. said.

By the time Jessica Lakeman was wheeled into the OB area at Piedmont Fayette Hospital, her doctor, Rebecca Banks, was scrubbed up, ready for surgery and waiting in the hallway for them. A few minutes later, Jackson Lakeman was born.

Though it took a few more minutes for the hospital staff to get him going because of the limited oxygen he’d received during the incident, he spent just a few days in the neonatal intensive care unit and was later released.

Jessica Lakeman said she remembers little about the incident other than passing out on the carport on her way walking toward the car to leave.

“She was pretty out of it,” J.D. said.

“All I could think to do was pray,” Jessica Lakeman said. “If I had time to do that, I knew I was going to be OK.”

The Lakeman family will forever be grateful to the Fayetteville and Fayette County paramedics and firefighters who helped them in their time of need. They recently took dinner to the station house to show their thanks.

But, as J.D. pointed out, saving lives is nothing new to them and the medics just look at it as another day on the job.

“You talk to them about it and it’s just, ‘business as usual,’” Lakeman said. “... That’s what they do.”

To the Lakemans, however, those rescuers saved the heart of their family and they’ll be eternally grateful.

If everyone involved hadn’t acted as quickly as they did to save his wife and son, J.D. said, “one or both of them probably wouldn’t have made it.”