Durban - Durban Metro police Inspector Lee Spencer Bryant may have delivered many babies in his years, but its always a ’nerve-racking’ experience.
On Monday, Bryant, who has been with Durban Metro for over 16 years, delivered a healthy baby girl on West Street, in the Durban CBD.
“Central patrols had come across the young lady in distress of early labour and an ambulance was requested.
“Metro Police Search and Rescue were called in to stabilise the patient.
“On arrival the patient was clearly in distress and delivering was imminent. I had very little time to even prepare a safe semi sterile environment and had to improvise as the baby's head appeared rapidly,” he said.
Byrant said he had delivered in excess of 10 babies.
“It's always daunting delivering a child as it's a very delicate situation where so much can go wrong so quickly, but I remained calm and applied my training and experience, with a positive outcome.
“The challenging part was that a membrane had not ruptured over the baby’s head I feared it would compromise the baby’s breathing or it would inhale the fluids, which was very dangerous, so ripped it open and removed the membrane from the head and neck. Shortly after, the baby made its first noise and cry, to the delight of all the officers assisting, myself and public who witnessed it.
“It is such a blessing to perform a birth, as nerve-racking as it can be.
“Bringing life into the world is such a beautiful experience in comparison to where policeman only see blood and gore on duty, and in search and Rescue we see the worst of the worst, so it gave me as a police medic a sense of pride that I performed a living rescue which is what I aspire to do ever day on duty,” he said.
Byrant said he couldn’t take all the credit.
“It was a team effort, from my partner Captain Manggos, to the female officers who gave emotional and verbal encouragement,” he said.
Durban metro police spokesperson Parbhoo Sewpersad commended the officer.
IOL