Missouri girl, 10, hailed as hero after helping mother give birth at home
A 10-year-old girl aptly named Miracle has earned plaudits as a hero from government officials in her home town after she helped her mother give birth to her baby sister at home with little more than some coaching from a 911 operator.
Miracle Moore dialed up emergency help after her mom went into labor three weeks early at their home in Jennings, Missouri, north of St Louis, on 22 October. There wasn’t time to get her mother – Viola Fair – to a hospital, so the emergency response dispatcher who received Miracle’s call explained the protocols her mother should follow to birth her baby as safely as possible, according to media reports in and around Jennings.
The girl relayed the information to her expectant mother over a fateful 10minute phone call. When it was over, Fair and Miracle welcomed a baby girl named Jayla to their family and the world, officials said.
Paramedics soon arrived to bring the new baby and her mother to a hospital for an evaluation, and everyone was ultimately given a clean bill of health.
The north St Louis county emergency response dispatchers to whom Miracle reached out at the height of her family’s crisis invited the girl to a ceremony on Wednesday and presented her with a certificate citing the bravery and courage she demonstrated in helping her mother.
Afterward, Miracle said the best part of the entire experience for her was getting to be the first person who saw Jayla, the local television news station KTVI reported.
The experience made Miracle realize what she wants to dedicate her life to when she grows up.
“I want to be a doctor,” Miracle said at the ceremony. Pointing at the uniformed paramedics attending her ceremony, Miracle added: “I want to be that
kind of doctor.”
The 911 operator who spoke to Miracle on the day of Jayla’s birth, Scott Stranghoener, told the St Louis news station KPLR that the 10-year-old “did an amazing job”.
“She followed all of my instructions to a T,” Stranghoener said. “And … a few minutes later, we had another baby girl in the house.”
The pint-sized hero’s mother said she was proud to now have two miracle babies.
“It was definitely a miracle because once I had the baby, she came out, I couldn’t really grab her and pick her up, and then Miracle came and she wrapped her up in a towel,” Fair recounted to KPLR. “She wiped her off and rubbed her back a little bit so she could cry. So, she was really helpful. I am very thankful.”
While Miracle awaits her chance to enter the medical field, she said for now she is just excited to be a big sister to Jayla and her other sibling, Taylor.
“She’s really cute,” Miracle said of Jayla to KPLR. “She doesn’t cry a lot, and I get to hold her a lot.”