OGDEN, Utah (ABC 4 News) – It all happened fast.
When Weber County Sheriff deputies got a distress call from the medical cell, they didn’t expect the inmate inside to be delivering a baby.
“I’ve been at the jail for 13 years, and — as far as I know — we’ve never delivered a baby,” said Deputy Jami Twitchell.
She was working on Nov. 27 when the inmate’s cell mate pressed a button inside the cell — pleading for help.
“You hear the radio call of medical, come now,” said Ashlee Chappell, who is a nurse inside the Weber County Jail.
She was halfway across the jail, and that’s why Twitchell got there first.
“I really didn’t know what I was doing. I was just doing the best that I could,” said Twitchell.
Usually, pregnant women have time to get to the hospital if they go into labor.
But on that night—there was no time.
“There’s been times in the jail that I’ve worked with female inmates, and they said they were in labor, and they’ve said they were gonna have the baby. And it never happens. And this time it was like—it’s really happening. There’s the baby’s head. It certainly was a shock,” said Twitchell.
The mother, who had said she was about seven months pregnant, was on all fours. Twitchell worked to get her on her back as the baby was delivered.
“Of course you have everything going through your mind, like — what if the baby’s not breathing. What are we gonna do?” said Chappell, the nurse.
By the time Chappell arrived, the delivery was over.
“That cry for the first time was oh my gosh, what a relief,” said Chappell.
And, just like that, Deputy Jami Twitchell held the first baby ever born in the Weber County Jail.
“It was a girl, with a full head of dark brown hair, really pretty,” said Twitchell.
The inmate, who was in jail on revoked bail, has been able to spend time with her baby. According to staff at the jail, the baby is small but healthy and is still at the hospital.
