12-Year-Old Delivers Baby Brother

He did it 'by instinct': mom
By Matt Cantor,  Newser Staff
Posted Aug 23, 2011 5:24 PM CDT
12-Year-Old Gaelan Edwards Delivers Baby Brother
Danielle, Caynan, and Gaelan Edwards appear in this image from CTV video.   (CTV)

A British Columbia 12-year-old was watching TV at 2 am when his mother called him in: She was having a baby, and she needed help. “I didn't go through any of the preliminary labor pains,” so the birth was a complete surprise, his mother, Danielle Edwards, tells the Times Colonist. “He put his hands on his hips and said, 'Mom, this is not going to be an at-home baby.'” But when it became clear that it would be, he knew just what to do.

Seeing the baby’s head emerging, Gaelan Edwards “grabbed the baby by the shoulders, with the head on his wrist, and eased him out,” Danielle recalls. Then he fetched some scissors and a clamp usually used on plastic bags, which he used to cut the cord. Danielle says he acted “just like by instinct,” but Gaelan attributes it to his mom’s medical books. “It was over the due date, so I'm like, 'Oh, whatever, I'll start reading these books,” he says. “I’m surprised that I actually did it.” CTV has video. (More Canada stories.)

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