A few contractions couldn’t stop Megan Warfield from doing her civic duty—just hours before her baby was born.
It’s hard enough to get out of bed when you’re nine months pregnant, let alone save a life. But firefighter Megan Warfield jumped into action to help pull a crash victim out of their car following a multi-car collision in Maryland. The kicker? She was having labour contractions the whole time, and this heroic mama gave birth just a few hours later.
Warfield, a member of the Bowleys Quarters Volunteer Fire Rescue and Marine, was a week shy of her due date when she was involved in a “significant motor vehicle collision” while driving home. Witnessing a woman trapped under a flipped car, she immediately shifted gears and sprang into action without hesitation.
“I saw a car was overturned and realized there was someone in there,” she told TODAY while appearing on the morning show. “I started crawling inside. But then I realized, ‘Good lord, you’re nine months pregnant! What are you doing here?’”
Well, saving lives…and having a baby!
It turns out the crash had put the 30-year-old into labour, which made her efforts all the more incredible. “I don’t know how I did what I did because the cramping was so bad,” Warfield explained. “I must’ve just been running on adrenaline.”
Despite her discomfort, the then-mom of two stayed with the crash victim until paramedics arrived. “I backed out and had someone call 911,” she said. “I kinda just held her in place and reassured her because I couldn’t tell what kind of injuries she had.”
Luckily, her boyfriend, Joshua Daugherty, is a paramedic and was one of the first responders at the scene. Warfield headed to Johns Hopkins Hospital to confirm that her baby was on the way, and just 23 hours later the couple welcomed their third child, Charlotte.
“It’s not uncommon to see our volunteers on scene,” Chief Fire Officer Shannon Stallings told WMAR-TV. “But to see one that’s been on administrative duties only laying in glass and oil trying to care for someone just weeks out of her due date, it blew my mind. You don’t see that everyday.”
You sure don’t. This mom clearly has a hardwired instinct to help others, and Baltimore is lucky to have her. “I’ve been itching to get back out,” she told TODAY. “It’s what I was meant to do.”
The best part? One day her little girl Charlotte will get to hear one of the most exciting and heroic birth stories ever. Congrats to the newly minted family of five!