Amanda Hess: Kentucky Doctor Delivered Baby Right Before Giving Birth To Her Own Baby Girl
Amanda Hess was an ordinary Kentucky obstetrician until earlier this week when her amazing feat went viral — helping one of her patients give birth while she herself was expecting a baby girl at any moment.
A report from NBC News states that the delivery took place last Sunday, July 23, as Hess was anticipating the birth of her second child at the Frankfort Regional Medical Center in Kentucky. Elsewhere in the hospital, a woman named Leah Halliday Johnson was preparing to give birth to her fourth child.
According to Johnson, Hess had previously examined her during her pregnancy, but as she was having a baby, she wasn’t supposed to be on call.
Just as Amanda Hess was at the Frankfort, Kentucky hospital and about to be induced, she had reportedly overheard a commotion, as nurses were saying that there was another mother in the hospital whose baby was in distress and needed to deliver immediately. According to WKYT, Leah Halliday Johnson’s doctor on call was heading back to the hospital after taking a break, but due to the urgency of the situation, Hess had rushed over to deliver Johnson’s daughter.
“I just put on another gown to cover up my backside and put on some boots over my shoes, to keep from getting any fluid and all that stuff on me, and went down to her room and I knew her.”
Hess also told WKYT that Johnson was “relieved” to see her, as she was “just glad to be able to get to push and have the baby out.”
Frankfort OBGYN Dr. Amanda Hess helps another mother deliver a baby moments before the birth of her own baby. https://t.co/p7JtTjrjUF pic.twitter.com/cpZ0Twt5ib
— The State Journal (@statejournal) July 28, 2017
Before giving birth to her second child, Dr. Amanda Hess had one last thing to do: deliver a baby.https://t.co/5tQfAIGbr1 pic.twitter.com/6QXSqlqBhP
— WCNC Charlotte (@wcnc) July 29, 2017
After helping Johnson give birth, Hess returned to her hospital room, where she gave birth to a healthy baby girl whom she and her husband named Ellen Joyce.
Three days after Amanda Hess made waves at the Kentucky hospital where she and Leah Halliday Johnson were expecting their respective baby girls, one of her colleagues, Dr. Hala Sabry, took to Facebook to praise her for a job well done. She added that the amazing story of how Hess went out of her way to help a mother in need would be a nice story for her to tell her kids – Ellen Joyce and her older sister Kate – when they grow older.
“Doctor moms consistently take care of their own families as well as their patients and their respective families all the time. Great job, Dr. Hess! Now enjoy your maternity leave!”
Amanda Hess and Leah Halliday Johnson have yet to talk since last week’s double birth, but in quotes published by NBC News, Johnson said that she’s very grateful that Hess was there when she needed her, and that she truly deserves her maternity leave.
“She’s definitely earned her time off. I appreciate what she did for my family, and it speaks a lot to who she is as a woman and a mother as well as a doctor. It makes you feel better, bringing a baby girl into the world, knowing there are women like her willing to step up like that.”
Now that her daughter has been born, Amanda Hess expects to take an eight-week maternity leave, wrote Lexington, Kentucky NBC affiliate LEX18.
[Featured Image by In Green/Shutterstock]
