SARASOTA, Fla. (WWSB) – It was a typical day at the local McDonalds on Tamiami Trail as customers casually placed their breakfast orders. Until they heard the screams.
“A man came out of the bathroom screaming, ‘she’s pregnant! She’s pregnant!’” says April Jones, a nurse who happened to be at the McDonalds eating breakfast at the time.
Jones was quick to respond and ran toward the distressed calls. Jones says by the time she got inside the bathroom stall, sometime around 10 a.m. on Dec. 17, the woman was already in labor. Quickly, Jones set down two jackets and placed the mother on top, preparing her to push.
“It all happened very fast,” says Jones. “She pushed, then pushed again and the baby was out. At first, he was blue and not breathing. That’s when the paramedics came.”
Jones assisted the paramedics by clamping the umbilical cord attached to the baby while emergency officials cut the cord. Once the umbilical cord was separated, that’s when Jones said the baby started breathing.
“By that time, the baby breathed like he was a fish out of water,” says Jones. “Emergency officials took over from there.”
The woman, Cathy Jordan, and her newborn baby were rushed to a local hospital where they received treatment. Jones followed shortly behind, driving with the newborn’s father, Shawn Jordan.
Upon their arrival, it was announce that Cathy Jordan had given birth to a healthy baby boy weighing 5 pounds and 9 ounces, arriving one month earlier than expected. The couple named their newborn baby boy Parker.
“Everything I needed to do just came to me,” says Jones. “I thought to myself, this has to be the strongest child I’ve ever seen in my life.”
