Doula Uses Video Chat to Help Couple Deliver Baby at Home During Blizzard, Says Parents Did 'Amazing'

Courtesy Davon Thomas

While the East Coast was hit by a historic blizzard on Christmas Eve over the holiday weekend, two doulas helped a couple stranded in their Buffalo, N.Y., home deliver their first baby — over the phone.

In an interview with Good Morning America, Davon Thomas said he was having trouble on Saturday trying to find ways to get emergency services to come to their house due to the snowstorm after his wife Erica Thomas began going into labor the night before.

After calling 911 multiple times, Thomas said he was told by EMT that "multiple rescue vehicles had tried to get to me but they got stuck trying to get to my house because of all the snow." The incident also occurred a day after Buffalo Mayor Byron Brown issued a driving ban on Friday.

RELATED: Buffalo Woman Saves Life of Disabled Man with Severe Frostbite: 'This Man Is Not About to Die'

As he was searching for help, a friend made a post on a Buffalo Facebook group joined by local residents who later directed him to an experienced doula, Raymonda Reynolds. The two proceeded to connect via a video call on Facebook Messenger.

After listening to Thomas' concern about his situation with his wife, Reynolds contacted her friend, another doula named Iva Blackburn to provide more support before getting her to join the video call.

"I was home with my mom and my children, and we were watching the [Buffalo] Bills game in the middle of the storm," Blackburn — who's also a licensed practical nurse and a midwifery assistant — tells PEOPLE, adding that she thought her friend just wanted to check in when she saw Reynolds' call.

"When I answered, her and Davon appeared on the screen. She was just like, 'Hey, I have this dad here. His wife is in labor. They've called emergency services, they can't get to him. We need your help,'" Blackburn recalls. "He was on the phone, so I just basically said, 'Let me see what mom looks like,' because with my experience, based on how mom sounds and what she's wearing, I can kind of tell where she is in the labor process."

Courtesy of Shaw Photography

When she saw Erica on the screen in nothing but a sports bra, Blackburn knew a baby was on the way. "Usually when it's getting close, women have a tendency to take off all their clothes," Blackburn says. "It's just like a natural instinct."

Never miss a story — sign up for PEOPLE's free daily newsletter to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from juicy celebrity news to compelling human interest stories.

Both doulas immediately began by first making sure that the then-soon-to-be parents remained calm throughout the process. "I told Dad, 'Everything is under control. The most important thing I need from you is to just be calm and to listen,'" she explained on GMA.

Blackburn instructed Thomas to gather towels or blankets, to grab a flashlight and a bowl and to put some water on the stove.

Courtesy Davon Thomas

"He was nervous, but he listened," says Blackburn, who then told Davon: "You're just going to follow her around the house, because the best thing that a woman in labor can do is you just let her be. Let her walk around, let her just do what she needs to do."

RELATED: Kayakers Save Pilot from Icy Creek After Plane Crash in Maryland: 'Their Efforts Were Heroic'

Meanwhile, Reynolds offered Erica some comforting words, telling her, according to GMA, "You can do this. It's going to be okay. You know, we've been doing this since the beginning of time. Your body knows what to do. We just have to listen to your body."

With the help from the doulas, Erica successfully delivered her and Thomas' first baby at 3:31 p.m. on Christmas Eve, just a day shy of her due date. The group was on the phone for an hour and a half before the arrival of the couple's child, who was named after Erica's father Devynn.

"I could tell dad was stunned, mom was stunned and baby was stunned," Blackburn says of the moments just after the newborn arrived.

She then instructed the brand-new parents to turn the phone toward the newborn. "Now I need to see what's going on with baby," Blackburn explains. "Baby's eyes were open, but baby was quiet. So I was just like, 'It's okay, you can pick up your baby. Pick up the baby.' And so soon as they picked up the baby, the baby started to cry and I'm cheering, my mom is screaming. You'd have thought the Bills made a touchdown."

Courtesy Davon Thomas

Blackburn tells PEOPLE she was proud of the new parents for how they handled their first birth given the circumstances.

"With a very unplanned home birth in the middle of a blizzard … they absolutely did amazing," she says. "Mom listened, dad listened. They did amazing. They were calm. Nervous, but calm."

Help continued to pour in after the baby's birth, Davon told GMA. Another stranger who had seen the Facebook post about his family reached out to him offering assistance in getting them to the hospital the following morning, he said. Although they were met with another challenge.

RELATED VIDEO: Freezing Temps in Western Montana Turn Water to Cloud

"He wasn't able to get all the way to my house. So what he did was he parked his truck about three streets away from where I live at, and then his friend came to my house and helped me get my wife and the newborn to his vehicle," Thomas said. "We literally had to walk through mountains of snow. It was like something out of a movie."

The family of three returned home safely on Tuesday without enduring any health-related issues, GMA reported.

Reflecting on the experience, Reynolds said, "We both gave them [the parents] the biggest props. We were so proud of them because they did such a great job."

Added Blackburn, "They did absolutely amazing, to be first-time parents to have an unplanned, out-of-hospital birth."