After aunt passes out giving birth in bathtub, 10-year-old girl cuts newborn's umbilical cord "using stuff" learned from doll videos
Chloe Carrion, 10, knew that she had to do something when she saw her aunt, Dominique Spann, 21, screaming for help while calling out her name. Dominique had gone into labor at their home and then passed out. Chloe recalled that she was with her aunt in their house when Dominique started complaining that she did not feel well. Dominique had kept her pregnancy a secret from her family and decided to go into the washroom until she felt better. However, little did she know that she was about to give birth to her child. She then started screaming for her niece "She screamed my name saying, "Chloe", and I came and she's like, 'There's a baby'. She had lost a lot of blood," Chloe recalled.
The 10-year-old said that her aunt climbed into the tub to give birth, and then passed out. Chloe knew that it was no time to waste and she quickly jumped into action and thought of what she could do. She then went on to grab something to cut the umbilical cord. She then called 911 and wrapped the baby boy in a blanket until EMS arrived at their Fairfax County home. Everyone was surprised to see how quick thinking by Chloe helped both, the mother and the baby.
When she was asked how she learned what to do in the situation she said that she had seen YouTube videos and read about it. "I watch YouTube videos about people playing with dolls and I see them care for the babies, so I used stuff I knew from the videos," she said, as reported by Daily Mail.
At the same time, assistance from a 911 dispatcher also helped Chloe to take control of the situation. “She told me to get something to cut it with, so I got the house scissors,” Chloe said, as reported by Yahoo Lifestyle. “And she told me to tell my aunt to stay calm, to swaddle the baby but try to wipe off most of the blood, and to wait for paramedics to arrive and to get my aunt some water.”
At the same time, the YouTube videos also helped Chloe with "swaddling and cleaning him up from everything". After this, Chloe also called her mother, April West, who did not believe her daughter until she showed the baby to her through FaceTime. April arrived moments after the paramedics came. Chloe was just standing at the front door with the baby swaddled, and she was rocking him back and forth,” she said. “I’m very proud of her. She was so brave. Even as an adult, I don’t think I could have done what she did.”
Meanwhile, Dominique and her baby were taken to Inova Fairfax Hospital, and are doing fine. "I'm very proud, so that makes me feel good," she said. She added that she did not tell her family about her pregnancy because she was "scared". Dominique said that she had asked her niece to choose the name of the baby because she was there to help her. Chloe said that she chose the name Issac for the little baby boy.