She isn't an OB-GYN and she isn’t a midwife, but that didn't stop 6-year-old Nevaeh Llantada from helping to deliver her own baby brother on Wednesday morning in her Colton, Calif., home.
The Press Enterprise reports that Nevaeh's mother, 22-year-old Destiny Padilla, wasn't expecting to go into labor until June but woke up early Wednesday in pain. Her boyfriend had already left for work, and the battery on her cellphone was dead so she couldn't call 911.
At 7:20 a.m., Destiny's water broke in her living room with Nevaeh by her side. Mom was scared, but as she told the Press Enterprise, "[Nevaeh] was telling me to calm down and relax."
Eventually, Destiny was able to charge her phone and reach 911. The mom and daughter team followed the operator's instructions -- Nevaeh took a shoelace from her younger sister's shoe so that her mom could tie it around the baby’s umbilical cord.
"My heart was like thump, thump, thump fast," Nevaeh said.
Paramedics came and transferred Destiny and her new son to Community Hospital of San Bernardino. The family said both mom and baby are doing well.
Nevaeh joins the ranks of a few other kids who have stepped up in emergency labor situations. In August 2011, 12-year-old Gaelan Edwards delivered his little brother when his mother's water broke at home -- he said he knew what to do from reading medical books and watching hospital TV shows. And in 2009, 6-year-old Diyana Johnson helped her mom deliver when her baby sister arrived four weeks early.
Our 2024 Coverage Needs You
Already contributed? Log in to hide these messages.