Addison Police Officer Delivers Baby At Home
CHICAGO (CBS) -- An Addison police officer helped save a baby born at home Tuesday morning -- and the officer calls it a "Christmas miracle."
Officer Maria Reyes happened to be about one block away from the home when a dispatcher sent her to the scene of a woman giving birth at her residence.
The woman's frantic grandmother made the call to police.
Reyes says as she walked in the door, the woman was having the baby.
"His little fingers were blue at the end, his toes were blue and he just looked really -- like his face was squished," she said. "He was moaning, but not really active."
Reyes, who has been on the force for 12 years and is a mother herself, says she's had the proper training, but had never actually delivered a baby before.
"I just improvised. I grabbed my latex glove from my right hand and tied the umbilical cord. And as soon as I did that, the blood rushed into the baby, and we heard the screams and cries and it was a good moment, a good time," Reyes said.
Sandra Johnson, the baby's mother, said officer Reyes knew what she was doing, adding, "I was relieved. She was very, very helpful."
Little Malachi is Johnson's sixth child. Her fifth oldest son, Jaden, was born in her car on the way to the hospital.
Malachi came four days before his due date. Johnson says he was born right by the front door, as they were about to head to the hospital.