Special delivery: UF nursing student helps ‘Miracle' baby

At almost 4 weeks old, Miracle Cromwell coos and cries like any newborn baby. However, her entrance into the world was anything but ordinary, thanks in part to a quick-thinking University of Florida College of Nursing student.

It was a typical fall evening on Thursday, Nov. 19 near the UF campus: heavy traffic, dusk settling and the Gator Marching Band practicing at Norman Field for that weekend's home game. Senior nursing student Emily Hunt was on her way to work and sitting in traffic at Museum Road and Southwest 13th Street when she noticed the commotion ahead of her.

When she discovered a woman in a van was having a baby, Hunt hopped off her scooter and ran to the front of the line of cars. What she saw when she arrived was out of a film or TV show.

Hunt found Loretta Cromwell crouched over the front seat of the van, struggling with pain. She had labored all day and was sent home from her doctor's office because she wasn't dilated enough. But by 4 p.m., her water broke, and she and her family of five headed to Shands at UF. They wouldn't get there soon enough. As Hunt approached, Cromwell's husband was delivering the baby.

"The father was literally ‘catching' the baby as it came out," said Hunt, who had already attended several births as part of her clinical rotation in obstetric/maternal nursing. "I quickly came to the van and started evaluating the baby, assessing her breathing and pulse. She wasn't crying much, which worried me. I knew I had to do something immediately so that the baby would not lose any more warmth."

Hunt asked the driver in the truck behind them to give her a towel. After she found a towel, she started vigorously massaging and stimulating the baby. She started massaging the baby's face and nose to remove any secretions or blockages to promote breathing, too.

"It was amazing having Emily there," said Chris Cromwell, Miracle's father. "For her to come up and announce who she was and take control of the situation. I tell you what, that made me feel real good. I felt like she couldn't have been in a better place after that. Everyone was trying to help, and I was holding onto the baby. When [Emily] came, it relieved a lot of worry."

Coincidentally, Sandra Citty, Ph.D., A.R.N.P., a College of Nursing clinical assistant professor, was next to the car when one of the family's older children yelled for help. Citty, a family nurse practitioner, called 9-1-1 and assisted the delivery in the early moments, though her only recent labor experiences were the births of her own children. She coached the father on what to do, but Emily's presence made a huge difference.

"It is so strangely miraculous that this dedicated and mature nursing student, who happened to be in her OB clinical rotation that semester, would be driving by at that moment and could help this family," Citty said.

After emergency medical services arrived and the cord had been cut, the EMTs focused on the mother. Hunt rocked and stroked the baby, providing her the warmth and comfort needed in the beginning of a newborn's life.

When Cromwell was safely on the stretcher, ready for transport to the hospital, Hunt placed the baby, swaddled in the towel, onto the mother's chest. Cromwell lit up, snuggled and kissed the baby. After Hunt finished her shift as a hostess at Carrabba's that night, she went to Shands to visit the Cromwell family.

"It was a blessing to me to have her there and it was a blessing for my family to have those two women (Hunt and Citty) there," Cromwell said. "I thank God for them."

Hunt cites her obstetrics clinical instructor, Michele Brimeyer, M.S.N., A.R.N.P., for everything she has learned this semester. Brimeyer, after hearing the tale from Citty, sent a proud and congratulatory e-mail to Hunt that night.

"It seems like it was fate that they were there that day and could help this family and their baby," Brimeyer said. "But more than that, it is a testament to our college preparing nurses to not simply succeed academically but to critically and practically apply the knowledge, theory, and skills of nursing practice."

The Cromwells were struck by Hunt's compassion and caring even after the baby was born, from her visits to them in the hospital to the continued phone calls she has made. She visited the family last week, and the Cromwells plan to attend her graduation in May, too.

"I will always be grateful for her," Cromwell said. "I think she is going to be very successful in all that she does. She is my baby's angel. "