LAKEWOOD, Colo. (KDVR) — An expectant mother gave birth three weeks early, but luckily her coworkers jumped in to help.
She went into labor in the bathroom of the CarHop Auto Sales Office in Lakewood.
Second-time mom Jalisha was about ready to leave work to go to a baby shower when her own baby just couldn’t wait. This tiny bundle of joy is just 2 days old and already has the story of a lifetime.
“Never in a million years, felt like it was a movie,” Jalisha Maxey-Deveraux said. “I called my husband. I think that these are real contractions at this point; they’re not Braxton Hicks anymore.”
It was in those moments when Maxey-Deveraux knew her unborn baby’s story was about to begin a little early, that her co-workers unexpectedly became part of her birth story.
“She was definitely having a contraction,” Libbie Roan, the CarHop manager, said. “I knocked on the door and asked if she was OK. She was like, ‘Yeah, I think I might be in labor,’ and I was like ‘OK!'”
“There’s a lot of screaming and a lot of … I don’t want to say anger … but pain going on. A lot of it, on my end, was just remaining calm, trying to keep her calm and trying to keep her breathing,” Jacob Cloutier said.
“We didn’t have any towels … we’re a business, we were not in the business of babies,” Roan said. “So we didn’t have a whole lot of supplies.”
Cool, calm and collected Cloutier was able to use the experience from having his own son to help this mom deliver her daughter. Baby Jhersi is tiny, weighing only 5 pounds, 9 ounces,. but is healthy.
“The West Metro Fire Department showed up after I had caught the baby,” Cloutier said. “I’m just very grateful that there were no complications.”
“There are so many things that could happen in that situation and everything happened perfectly, very quickly,” Roan said.
Back at home on maternity leave, the mom of two is thankful for her coworkers.
“He stood up and did what he had to do and helped me out and I really appreciate it because I don’t know if she would have been OK if he hadn’t,” Maxey-Deveraux said.
This story is certainly one that mom, dad Broadrick and the CarHop crew won’t soon forget.
“I might not put this on my resume but on my resume of life. It certainly will be a story I would tell my kids and my grandkids,” Cloutier said. “Everybody I know.”
“I don’t know where this fits on a resume but I’m going to lock it away and hold it as one of my most treasured memories,” Roan said.
The baby, only wrapped in the mother’s coat, was a little cold and had low blood sugar when it arrived at the hospital but the baby and mom are doing just fine now.