A Texas dad helped deliver his own daughter right outside a hospital, and the moment was caught on camera.
Luis Mendoza was driving his wife, Angelica Martinez, to the hospital on September 2 when she started having strong contractions just two blocks away from Methodist Dallas Medical Center, according to CBS affiliate KTVT and ABC affiliate WFAA.
“The baby’s head started coming out,” Mendoza recalled. “I reached out to make sure she didn’t come out.”
When they pulled up to the hospital, Mendoza jumped out of the car to help his wife, FOX affiliate KDFW reported. But the baby wasn’t waiting—so he delivered her right there.
Surveillance video from outside the hospital showed the couple’s white SUV pulling up as Mendoza helped Martinez.
Hospital workers quickly ran outside to assist. Carrie Urista, a retired nurse manager working at the front desk, was the first to reach them.
“Dad was the hero of the day,” Urista told KTVT and WFAA. “He had already lifted the baby up and placed her on her mother’s tummy.”
John Phillips, president of the hospital, also witnessed the scene. “Not every day at a hospital is like a television drama, but this day it was,” he told KDFW.
Mendoza and Martinez named their daughter Kamilah. Mendoza called the experience “very special” and “a once in a lifetime moment,” he told KTVT.
“It’s a story I’ll be able to tell her later about how she came into this world,” Mendoza said.
The couple later returned to Methodist Dallas Medical Center to thank the staff who helped during the delivery, KTVT reported.
“We are very, very grateful that everything turned out well,” Martinez said. “Thanks be to God that we now have our princess Kamilah with us.”
