During our busy lives, most of us have probably experienced a change of pace – even if only for a short amount of time. However, most of us can probably say we’ve never changed from a restaurant owner to a doctor to deliver a baby for a day; but Stela Borbas, restaurant owner did just that!
On her normal everyday route to work in downtown Miami, Stela came across a rather surprising sight. A vehicle was stopped in the middle of South Miami Avenue during the morning rush, and an upset couple and their little girl were standing along the edge of the street with an older lady. The younger woman’s uncovered legs were covered in blood.
As she watched other vehicles speed by the scene around 8:30 a.m. on February 7, Borbas chose to let her curiosity get the better of her and check. She had just finished a yoga class before she was enroute to her job, so her teacher’s words were still fresh in her mind.
“He told me that my intention was to do good for someone that day,” Borbas, 29, said. “I figured, ‘Okay, this is my opportunity.’ It was clear these people needed some help.”
There was no place to park along the curb, so she pulled up behind the family’s vehicle. At that point, she realized exactly what was going on. The young lady was in active labor. Her water had broken, and she was evidently bleeding because her child was going to make an entry into the world, Borbas said.
The couple didn’t speak or understand English; however, they were able to communicate in Spanish with Borbas.
“But I was so panicked when I saw that she was pregnant and about to have a baby, that I suddenly couldn’t remember a single word,” she said. “All I could think of was to call 911.”
The couple was with a neighbor, who hardly spoke any English and was driving them to a morning appointment to meet with immigration authorities, Borbas said. They were Haitian settlers who had as of late been in Chile and afterward came to Miami. The neighbor had become petrified in fear and stopped the car at around 8:00 a.m. in the street when the young woman began bleeding and clearly was in the process of giving birth in serious agony, Borbas added.
That’s when she called 911, and as she talked with the dispatch, she realized that the couple’s 4-year-old girl was shouting.
“I asked the neighbor to take her away from the scene a little bit so I could calm down the situation and hear the 911 operator,” Borbas said.
She assumed that she’d wait with the family until an ambulance showed up and the mother could be bolted to the medical clinic to conceive the baby safely.
“The 911 operator told me to take a deep breath,” Borbas said. “She told me, ‘I need you to deliver this baby.’ ”
Driving to work, a restaurant owner saw a car stopped in the road. She went over — and delivered a baby.https://t.co/W3oGIyvMpm
— The Washington Post (@washingtonpost) February 18, 2022
Borbas is a mother of two children, ages 4 and 6, and had conceived both of them naturally, she said. “So I knew what that was like,” she said. “Be that as it may, convey a child? On a road control? I told the lady helping me on the telephone, ‘Pause! I didn’t actually clean my hands.’ “
There wasn’t time, said the dispatcher, who let her know that the ambulance was at least 10 minutes away.
“The lady was currently lying out and about with her head in her significant other’s lap,” Borbas said. “She was in torment, yet all at once not shouting. I was the one in particular who was overreacting.”
The 911 dispatcher inquired as to whether she had something in her vehicle that the lady could lie on to conceive, and Borbas remembered that she had her yoga mat which was a limited edition Lululemon mat.
“It has little sayings on it, like ‘Live in the moment.’ ‘Be Grateful.’ ‘Be Kind,’ ” she said. “So I guess it was entirely appropriate.”
After a rough patch of birthing pains and what seemed like endless pushing, the baby seemed to miraculously pop into Borbas’ hands, but when the baby didn’t cry, Borbas tenderly moved her up and down to get a reaction out of her. That’s when she let out a wail, she said.
“She was a miracle yoga mat baby,” said Borbas, who immediately started crying when she looked at the baby’s tiny, perfect face.
Seconds later, the ambulance finally showed up and the paramedics cut the umbilical cord and dashed the mother and child away to Miami’s Jackson Memorial Hospital. After two days, she visited the mother and child in the hospital before they were released.
“I was glad to see they were both getting along nicely,” she said. “The child is delightful — she goes by Darlie and she weighs 5.2 pounds.” She said.
I’d say that’s one crazy jump from wearing a restaurant hat to putting on a doctor hat, or was it? Borbas has two children, and has done all the hard work of both herself, so maybe she was just the right person – who happened to be in the right place at the right time after all.
This story syndicated with permission from My Faith News
"*" indicates required fields
