Cop delivers skilled service in catching baby
A BURLY “midwife” in the form of a Despatch policeman exchanged crime-fighting for something a little more labour-intensive when he delivered a baby in the lounge of a Khayamnandi residence early yesterday.
Warrant Officer Roderick Middlecamp, 45, said while he had not anticipated the very different call of duty, the thought of delivering his third baby on the job did not faze him too much.
Responding to a call for police assistance shortly after 1am yesterday, Middlecamp arrived at the Somi Street home to the sounds of expectant mother Nontuthuzelo Mhalatshana, 23, screaming in pain.
Following the short labour, he noticed that the umbilical cord coiled around the neck of the newborn girl was suffocating her.
Honing his instinctive midwife skills – having delivered his first baby in 2004 and a second in 2013 – he said he simply unwrapped the umbilical cord, allowing the infant to breathe.
“I have always had a soft spot for kids, and they seem to be drawn to me as well,” Middlecamp said. “This incident was actually kind of funny – the house was full of women but when the baby started coming, they all ran away,” the father of six said.
“It wasn’t a really stressful situation for me because I have delivered babies before.
“The mother was very scared but, once we calmed her down, the birth process only took about 15 minutes.
“I haven’t had time to go to see them yet, but I have been told that both mother and baby are fine.”
Moments after he wrapped the baby in a towel, an ambulance arrived to transport Mhalatshana and her newborn daughter to Uitenhage Provincial Hospital.
Despatch acting station commander Captain Flippie de Jager said: “On hearing about it, I froze.
“I then realised that it is what any parent would do to save a precious life.”