Riders on a city bus in St. Paul, Minnesota had an exciting afternoon commute recently. Michelle Agyei was on her way home from work and eight months pregnant when she went from feeling uncomfortable to excruciating pain, and then her water broke. Fellow passengers asked if she was okay, one woman called her mom, who’s a midwife, to get some advice, and a man with no experience delivering babies stepped up to help while the driver called 911.
But that baby didn’t wait. Just a few minutes later, Agyei’s son, Andre, was born on the floor of the bus as a group of complete strangers helped. Jane Mulcahy was sitting across from the action and gave her shoelace to tie off the umbilical cord. She says the man who caught the baby was “amazing.”
Agyei wasn’t due until September 8th, but had gone to the hospital with contractions the day before, but she was sent home. She was understandably scared and delivering her son on the city bus wasn’t part of her birth plan, but paramedics arrived and got mom and baby to the hospital, where they’re doing well. She’s extremely thankful for the kindness and help from the other passengers and says, “Without them, I didn’t know what to do.”