By Hillel Aron
Staff Reporter
An off-duty paramedic helped deliver twins on Monday night with nothing but a pair of kitchen scissors and two clothes pegs.
Bev Sutton was at her home in Parklands when, at about 9.30pm, her neighbour knocked on her door. Another woman in their building was giving birth, and needed help immediately, Sutton was told.
When she got to the flat, she walked into the bedroom to find that one of the twins had already been born.
The baby girl was lying inside the membrane sac with her eyes closed. She was not breathing.
"She was dead," said Sutton.
She found a pair of scissors and cut the membrane sac open. She then performed mouth to mouth on the baby, blowing gently.
Sutton said she had been a paramedic for 20 years, and had never done anything like this.
The baby was successfully revived. Sutton cut the umbilical cord, using pegs to clamp it first. She then delivered the second baby, a boy, successfully, without any problems.
The woman and her twins were taken to Somerset Hospital for further care, and are reportedly doing well.
The Cape Argus could not track mother and babies down.
In all the commotion, Sutton never even got the mother's name. She forgot to ask.