Last Friday, Ashton Buchanan went into labor just outside Saint Francis Hospital in Tulsa, Oklahoma. As her husband Seth pulled into the hospital’s circular drive, she realized the baby was coming before they’d be able to make it inside. While he ran to find a wheelchair, hospital security guard Marricco Edmundson, who’s also a firefighter and EMT, saw the baby arriving and quickly stepped in to assist. “I could see the head coming out even faster, and this time I went to cradle the head, and as I cradled the head, the shoulders came out and the whole body just dropped in my hands, but he wasn't crying". He then noticed the umbilical cord was wrapped three times around the baby’s neck. “So I took my two fingers beneath the neck and umbilical cord and loosened the cord up, and after that the baby took a breath and started crying,”
The hospital’s labor and delivery team quickly took over, bringing the baby and family inside. But said there may have been serious brain damage had Marricco not opened up his breathing.
Later, Edmundson visited the Buchanans in their hospital room to meet their newborn son, Theodore. Seth expressed his deep gratitude for Edmundson, “He saved us this morning, he's a godsend”!
Marricco says this turns out to be one of the best days in his life as well! “This one here takes the cake! Like I said, I wasn’t ready for this one and it caught me by surprise. But my training just kicked in and I did what I had to do to deliver a baby until staff arrived.”