10-year-old calls 911, cuts umbilical cord when aunt suddenly gives birth at home
A 10-year-old girl is crediting her love of dolls for her ability to help out when her 21-year-old aunt suddenly went into labor at home on Monday afternoon.
As local ABC news affiliate WJLA reports, 10-year-old Chloe Carrion of Fairfax County, Va., was home alone with her aunt, who, unbeknownst to the family, was concealing a pregnancy. According to the girl, her aunt had complained of stomach pains earlier in the day. She ended up giving birth to her baby boy while sitting on the toilet — and Chloe was the only one on hand to help.
“She screamed my name, and she says, ‘I had a baby!’” Chloe told WJLA. “And I said, ‘No you didn’t,’ and she said, ‘Yes I did.’”
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After entering the bathroom and seeing the baby for herself, Chloe leaped into action.
“She gave me the baby because she got in the bathtub and she lost a lot of blood, so she fell and passed out,” she said. “So I called 911.”
Chloe was able to cut her new cousin’s umbilical cord thanks to instructions from a 911 dispatcher.
“She told me to get something to cut it with, so I got the house scissors,” she told WJLA. “And she told me to tell my aunt to stay calm, to swaddle the baby but try to wipe off most of the blood, and to wait for paramedics to arrive and to get my aunt some water.”
Chloe added that watching YouTube videos and playing with baby dolls helped to prepare her to care for the infant like a pro.
“The videos helped me with swaddling and cleaning him up from everything,” she told WJLA.
She also called her mother, April West, who was in disbelief until Chloe showed her the baby over FaceTime. West arrived moments after the paramedics, who transferred the aunt and her son to nearby Inova Fairfax Hospital.
“Chloe was just standing at the front door with the baby swaddled, and she was rocking him back and forth,” West told the local news affiliate of her daughter’s heroics. “I’m very proud of her. She was so brave. Even as an adult, I don’t think I could have done what she did.”
For her efforts, Chloe was given the honor of choosing a name for her infant cousin. Her selection: Isaac.
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