An off-duty firefighter sprung into action when his neighbor went into labor on Sunday, Aug. 3, helping her deliver the baby on her parents’ front lawn in Indiana.
Jasmine Mix, the mother of two, tells TODAY.com she was 36 weeks pregnant and had been having contractions the night before. When her husband had to go to work, she went to her parents’ house with her 22-month-old child, Caroline.
“All of a sudden I was talking to my parents, and I think my water had broke partially — not fully enough to say like, ‘Oh my gosh, my water broke.’ But it must have been my water, because my contractions started very quickly,” Mix says. “It went from like being nothing to every minute, 30 seconds.”
Mix’s mother wanted to call an ambulance, but Mix says she thought she would be OK to wait a little longer, as her husband had called and said he was on his way home.
While waiting for her husband, Mix got into a bath, where she says she suspects her water finished breaking.
“My mom heard me in agony, and she’s like, ‘I really feel like we need to call an ambulance.’ And I said, ‘No, I’ll be OK,'” Mix recalls.
Mix’s husband came to check on her, and decided to get their hospital bag from their home about five blocks away, Mix says.
“As he was pulling up, my mom is getting me dressed,” Mix says, adding her mother said they should call an ambulance for the third time, but Mix still thought she could make it.
“My husband and I were walking out to the car, and I’m in terrible pain, and he opened the car door for me to get in. As I’m getting in, I looked at him, and I was like, I have the urge to push,” she says. “And my husband’s like, ‘Next thing I know, you’re pulling your pants down and there’s a head.”
Mix’s parents then ran outside, and her father started yelling for their neighbor Nathan Huyck, a firefighter and paramedic, to come help.
Nathan Huyck holds Adaline Jaymes, the baby he helped deliver. Courtesy Jasmine Mix
“He’s hollering for Nathan, and luckily for my dad’s quick thinking, because Nathan’s a paramedic and an EMT, Nathan quickly runs and realizes I’m in active labor,” Mix says.
“My daughter was born before the paramedics and ambulance even arrived,” Mix adds.
Mix’s daughter, Adaline Jaymes Mix, was born healthy at 6 pounds, 6 ounces and 19.5 inches, Mix says.
Adaline Jaymes Mix was born on Aug. 3.Courtesy Jasmine Mix
“It went from her breaking my water at like five o’clock in the evening to her being born at 5:36 p.m. It progressed super fast, so there was no time to even make it to the ambulance.”
Huyck spoke about what happened in an interview with NBC affiliate WTWO of Terre Haute, Indiana.
“I was just in my backyard doing some stuff and I heard my neighbor calling for help,” Huyck said. “I went out there and there was a female in the front yard in active childbirth, so I decided to help.”
Huyck has been a firefighter with the Terre Haute Fire Department for about three years, WTWO reported.
“This was actually my first childbirth, but we’ve done a lot of training with these scenarios,” Huyck said. “I’ve been coached through it numerous times by my superiors, so I knew what to do and what to look for.”
Huyck said he helped assist with labor as a crowd of people including his wife, Mix’s sisters and parents looked on.
“I delivered the baby and my wife coached her through, with her sisters helping to pad under her to raise her off of the ground because we were in the front yard,” Huyck said. “Once the baby came out, I stimulated the baby and cleared the airway. I got it breathing and crying, that’s what we’re looking for in a childbirth.”
Paramedics then arrived on the scene and took Mix’s and Adaline’s vitals, before taking them to the hospital for further treatment, Mix says.
Courtesy Jasmine Mix
Courtesy Jasmine Mix Jasmine, Caroline and Adaline Mix in the hospital together. Courtesy Jasmine Mix
Mix says the birth of her oldest daughter was also quick, but not as fast as her second birth.
“She broke my water at 6:45 p.m., and she was born at 9:08 p.m.,” Mix says. “When she broke my water, I had time to shower and everything before the contractions really started and I got to the hospital. But once I got to the hospital, things progressed fast with her.”
Mix says the story of her second daughter’s birth started as “a scary thing.”
“It was just one of those in the moment situations where you had to act accordingly,” Mix says. “It turned out to be a beautiful blessing.”
This story first appeared on TODAY.com. More from TODAY:
