Elia PowersEmily Swedelson saw a stranger walking...

Elia Powers

Emily Swedelson saw a stranger walking toward her as she huddled with

fellow cheerleaders outside Costa Mesa High School earlier this

month.

She was stoic at first, but that changed when she noticed the man

was carrying a cake.

He extended his hand. She extended hers. Moments later, Swedelson

understood the situation: She was getting a special delivery from the

man who helped deliver her 16 years ago.

“I was surprised,” said Swedelson, whose birthday is today. “I

was speechless at first, and it was awkward for a second. But then we

started talking and I realized it was very nice of him to come.”

On May 30, 1989, Kirk Dominic, then a Costa Mesa Fire Department

emergency medical technician, received a phone call from dispatch

alerting him that a pregnant woman on the Westside of Costa Mesa was

about to give birth.

It was Dominic’s second year on the job and his first time being

asked to deliver a baby alone.

He arrived on the scene at 9 p.m. Thirty-nine-year old Holly

Swedelson was sitting at the base of the steps outside her apartment

complex.

Her baby hadn’t been scheduled to arrive for another three weeks,

but both Swedelson and Dominic knew it was time.

“The whole thing took only a few minutes (once Dominic arrived),”

Swedelson said. “It was one push and Emily was there.”

Dominic drove Swedelson and her daughter to Hoag Memorial Hospital

Presbyterian and left the two alone, not to return.

More than 10 years later, Swedelson, a supermarket checker, began

to wonder who the man was that helped deliver her daughter. In the

heat of the moment, she had never asked for Dominic’s name.

One evening, while she was working at the checkout counter,

Swedelson noticed a fireman standing in line. She asked him if he

knew of a co-worker who had been on call that night.

It was Dominic who answered the question.

“I said, ‘Was it 9 at night? Was it an apartment complex? I know

the guy. It was me,’” he said. “I thought it was amazing. She could

have asked 99 other guys in on our department. I guess it was meant

to be.”

The two exchanged information, but Dominic spent the next two

years traveling the country as a reservist in the Army.

Flash forward to January. Swedelson began thinking of ways to

surprise her daughter for her sweet 16th birthday party. So she

called the fire department and again tracked down Dominic, now a

captain.

Swedelson invited him to Emily’s party, but Dominic couldn’t come.

Instead, he decided to bring a birthday cake to Costa Mesa High

School, where Emily is now a sophomore.

On the clear spring morning when Dominic greeted her outside of

school, he couldn’t help but think of the memorable evening when

Emily’s life began.

“I said, ‘Emily, the last time I saw you was 16 years ago,’” said

Dominic, who has children aged 15, 14 and 9. “We talked for a bit,

and it was nice for us to get together.

“There’s always a bond you share with a person you meet at birth.”

* ELIA POWERS may be reached at (714) 966-4623 or by e-mail at

elia.powers@latimes.com.