Off-duty Border Patrol agent helps mother deliver baby in public bathroom
An off-duty U.S. Border Patrol agent was with his family at a charity event earlier this month when he came to the aid of a woman giving birth in a public restroom, according to a statement from U.S. Customs and Border Protection.
Border Patrol Agent George Huertas, a member of the Border Patrol Search, Trauma and Rescue Team in San Diego, was participating in the Miracle Babies Superhero 5K with his family on May 15, a fundraising event for premature babies.
The agent remains active in the preborn baby community, as his son was born prematurely and spent the first three months of his life in the Newborn Intensive Care Unit.
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Just as Huertas and his family were packing up and preparing to leave, his sister informed him of the woman in labor in a nearby public restroom. The agent is a trained emergency medical technician and went to assist the woman with delivering her baby.
CBP did not immediately respond to The Christian Post’s request for comment.
While the bathroom was not a safe, sanitary location for the woman to give birth, Huertas used rubber gloves provided by a janitor. After the child was born, the agent and father used his EMT training to stimulate the baby boy and initiate breathing. Then, he wrapped the baby in a blanket provided by his sister and cleaned the infant’s face before introducing him to his mother.
“If you know George, you know he is too humble to bring this up for attention,” Michael E. McEwan, the acting commander of San Diego BORSTAR, said in the statement. “He only told a group of us in passing during muster and downplayed the whole incident.”
Huertas remained with the mother and her newborn child until medical personnel with the proper equipment arrived to deal with the baby’s umbilical cord and provide further care.
“George responds to those in need on and off duty,” McEwan said. “He is a strong advocate for those under his care. He truly embodies what it means to be a BORSTAR Agent and lives our moniker ‘So Others May Live.’”
The woman is not the first mother to deliver a baby in a public setting instead of a hospital.
In October 2013, firefighters responded to a call about a woman in labor at a Los Angeles Barnes & Noble bookstore. The first responders debated whether they should immediately transfer the woman to the hospital or help her deliver the baby in the store.
"The baby made that decision for them. They went ahead and delivered a healthy baby boy,” Torrance Fire Department Capt. Steve Deuel said.
Paramedics assisting with the delivery drew up a cloth to preserve the woman’s privacy. Both mother and child were reportedly in good health after the woman was taken to the hospital after giving birth.
According to the store manager, Marchelle Hughes, the woman gave birth just a few minutes after entering the establishment. Store employees were forced to ask onlookers to stop taking photos as the incident drew a crowd.
"That is a really awkward event to do in public. At the same time, it's a really tender moment, and I think everybody wanted to share that,” Hughes said.
Another woman, in January 2012, underwent a speedy delivery on a New Jersey PATH train. Rabita Sarkar and Aditya Saurabh had been on their way to the hospital when Sarkar went into labor early. The mother was experiencing pain and thought they could be contractions.
The couple was traveling to the hospital to determine whether it was false labor. Sarkar felt the baby coming as soon as she boarded the train, which another passenger also noticed.
“She asked me, ‘Where are you headed to?’ I said, ‘33rd then to the hospital at 59th.’ Then she told me, ‘You can’t wait,’” the first-time mother recalled.
Other passengers alerted the conductor, who made the train push through the stops and called ahead for the paramedic to meet the train. On the train, Sarkar gave birth to a healthy baby boy, Jhatpat.
“As the train came into the station, the woman had already given birth. That’s a good baby. He barely made a peep,” Port Authority Police Sgt. Mike Barry said.
