Dr. Michael Morosky delivered his first baby when he was in medical school and on the ambulance corps in Norwich.
On Thursday, at Johnson Memorial Hospital in Stafford Springs, Dr. Morosky made his 6,000th delivery.
"He's the best doctor I have ever been to since I've been in Connecticut," said Katie Storrs, the mother of Mason Storrs, Baby 6,000.
Dr. Morosky said sleep better not be your friend if you're going to be an obstetrician, because of all the night-time deliveries.
"I've always told myself that if I ever lost the passion that I would do something else, but every baby I deliver is still a miracle," he said. “So, 6,000 babies and 39 years later, I'm still delivering babies."
He moved his practice from Hartford Hospital to Johnson nine years ago, alarmed by the shortage of OB-GYNs in Eastern Connecticut, a shortage he blames on the high cost of malpractice insurance premiums.
"Connecticut is one of 20 states that doesn't have a cap on malpractice awards, so many of the obstetricians left when their practice premiums went way up and they went to states that had caps where their malpractice premiums are very small," he said.
Morosky said Eastern Connecticut has fewer than half the OB-GYNs it had 20 years ago.
