WATERVILLE — Police dispatcher Sarah Bailey helped deliver a baby over the telephone early today, with the man assisting the mother in Oakland successfully tying the umbilical cord off with his shoe lace, as instructed.

“It was a boy,” Bailey, 31, said later, smiling.

Bailey was working out of the communications center at the Waterville Police Department when she got the call at 4:56 a.m.

“It was a 911 call and the man said a female was having a baby in a home in Oakland,” Bailey said. “He was a little bit frantic and he said that she was overdue on her third child and that her water had broken.”

Bailey called for rescue and police to respond to the home and began instructing the man on what to do according to emergency medical dispatch protocol.

“The guy was amazing,” Bailey said. “He listened to everything I said and he repeated it back.”

He had apparently tried to get the woman into a car, but she made it only as far as the door and went down, ready to deliver, Bailey said. The man said he could see the baby’s head.

“The mom had one contraction and the baby kind of just came out,” Bailey said. “I’m just happy the baby’s OK and he’s breathing fine and Mommy’s OK.”

This was the second time Bailey had helped deliver a baby over the phone. The first time, it was a baby born in a taxi cab, also in Oakland.

This story will be updated.