Breanna Cross says delivering her baby brother at home was “pretty scary” but she had no choice.
“Everyone else was scared half to death,” said the 12-year-old about her two siblings. “It just happened so fast that I knew I had to do it.”
The Grade 6 student was honoured yesterday at Sambro Elementary by Emergency Health Services paramedics for successfully delivering her baby brother, Chace Allen Perry on the night of April 1.
Her mom, Brandi Naugler, said her water had broken and it was evident that her husband wasn’t going to get home fast enough from work during the snowstorm that night. So she woke up Breanna and they called 911.
“It’s not every day you have a baby on the floor,” Naugler said. “It’s not as if we knew what to do.”
Dispatcher Sean Murphy gave Breanna, who her mom calls the “mother hen of the house,” step-by-step instructions.
“She just started pushing and I’m like ‘Mom, please don’t push.’ She’s like ‘Well I have to,’” Breanna said.
Naugler said her daughter took control, throwing out commands to her siblings to get towels and blankets.
The hardest part, Breanna said, was catching her baby brother.
“I was nervous, but I was like ‘Just catch him. That’s all that matters right now — just catch him.’ And then I caught him and gave him to my mom. He was all slimy.”
Breanna wiped his mouth and swaddled him in blankets. Her grandmother, who arrived in the meantime, cut and tied the umbilical cord.
“It was 20 minutes from the time my water broke to the time he was out,” Naugler said. “I tried to stay as calm as possible to keep her calm.
“She did an awesome job.”
