Durban - The last thing paramedic, Ceron Lennox, expected while at the scene of an accident in Durban was to have to deliver a baby.
But that’s what happened just after midnight on Thursday, when she and a colleague went to the corner of Stephen Dlamini (Essenwood) and Sandile Thusi (Argyle) roads, where two bikers had been injured in an accident.
Lennox was in the ambulance when she heard an ear-piercing scream. It was not coming from one of the injured bikers though - it was the cry of a woman, Amanda Ngeleka, in labour.
Her husband (who did not want to be named) had run to the ambulance and explained to Lennox that his wife, sitting in his bakkie, was experiencing labour pains.
Rescue Care Paramedics spokesman, Garrith Jamieson, said on Sunday that Lennox had rushed over and confirmed the woman was in labour.
Because the bakkie seat could not recline, Lennox grabbed a spare mattress from the ambulance and placed it next to the bakkie.
“Lennox carefully delivered the baby, wrapped it in other sterile linen savers and a blanket that mom had,” Jamieson said.
Mother and daughter were taken to King Dinuzulu (formerly King George V) Hospital and were discharged yesterday. The injured bikers, meanwhile, were treated by another paramedic and taken to a nearby hospital.
Lennox said yesterday she was glad to have assisted in the birth - and chuffed that Ngeleka had named her daughter Luthando Ceron Ngeleka.
“She named the child Luthando which means love in Zulu. Then she asked the meaning of my name, which is beloved.
“I was a bit ecstatic when she included my name.”
The mother of three said that it was an incredible feeling bringing a healthy baby with no complications into the world.
“This is not the first time I (have) helped a woman give birth. I have been working in the emergency medical services for nine years and something like delivering a baby is incredible,” she said.
“To see the joy on the father’s face was amazing and gave me goose bumps.
“It’s not often that we deliver a baby, so it’s a special occasion,” Lennox said.
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