8-Year-Old Girl Helps Mom Deliver Baby Boy On Bathroom Floor With Help From 911 Dispatcher
An 8-year-old Florida girl showed the world that delivering a baby is so easy, a child can do it. Thanks to a helpful 911 dispatcher, Jazmine McEnaney was able to aid her mother Krystle Garcia in childbirth when paramedics were unable to arrive in time.
Krystle Garcia of Tampa Bay, Fla., went into labor Monday morning. Unlike many mothers who recount tales of being in labor for 13 hours, this baby couldn’t even wait for medical help to arrive before entering this world. While Garcia was getting ready for work at around 7 a.m., she went into labor. "I was in the bathroom and my water broke and I yelled for her ... ‘Jazmine grab the cordless phone. Dial 911,'" Garcia told NBC affiliate WPTV.
The young girl called 911 at 7:02 a.m., telling the operator, “My mom is pregnant and her water just broke. She is in so much pain,” WPTV reported. Garcia recalled panic setting in when she realized that her baby was going to be born before help would could arrive.
The infant was two weeks early and labor was progressing quickly. It was now up to her young daughter to aid her in the childbirth. Garcia held the phone as the 8-year-old delivered the child, closely following the instructions of the dispatcher. “She definitely stayed calm when she needed to. I was hysterical," Garcia told WPTV. “She did a very good job. I am proud of you,” Garcia told WPTV. The baby, named Joseph James Synder, was born on the bathroom floor, early yet healthy.
The Huffington Post reported that the 911 dispatcher “expertly and compassionately” talked the mother and her 8-year-old daughter through the delivery of the baby. In the phone call, which only lasted eight minutes, the dispatcher instructed the young daughter to get her mother towels and other items, and secure the baby’s head when the actual birth took place.
“Is your mom pushing or straining yet?” the paramedic asked the girl, to which Garcia could be heard in the background screaming, “Yes! Yes!” The dispatcher continued to guide the two as the head of the child emerged. “'Can you get some dry towels and a blanket to wrap the baby in and try to find a string or shoelace and maybe a safety pin, if you can?" the dispatcher asked the young girl. The Daily Mail explains how, according to 911 protocols, a shoelace is used to tie off the umbilical cord while the pin can help tear the amniotic sac, if it has not broken naturally.
Garcia believes the experience has brought her closer to her daughter. She explained to the Daily Mail, that without the composure of the dispatcher, everything may not have gone as smoothly, but ultimately it was the help of her daughter that got her through the ordeal. “If it wasn’t for her being as calm as she was, it would’ve been a lot worse,” Garcia said.