Pregnant US doctor helps deliver a baby hours away from delivering her own child

A pregnant US doctor saved a patient's life by tackling a complicated delivery.

In the medical world, there is no dearth of stories of brave medicos who put their duty above everything else. The latest to warm the cockles of our hearts is that of Dr Amanda Hess, an obstetrician from Kentucky, USA who was supposed to deliver a child of her own last week, July 23, 2017. But something unexpected happened at the hospital where she was due to give birth in a matter of hours. A lady in the adjacent ward, Leah Halliday-Johnson, was facing some crisis since her child's heartbeat was dropping by the minute. Chaos ensued in the ward since the doctor on-call was out of the building. He had to rush to the emergency room to take care of another complicated delivery, but he was soon on his way back. But a 10-minute waiting period was not something she could afford.

(Read:Why you shouldn t deliver before completing 40 weeks of pregnancy)

Although she was 1 cm dilated on admission to the hospital, Halliday-Johnson's condition was taking a turn for the worse and she was specifically instructed not to push before the doctor arrives. Her child's heartbeats were falling steadily during her contractions. The fetus also had its umbilical cord wrapped around its neck -- a precarious situation for the child. She didn't even have time for pain medications when the contractions set in and waiting for her obstetrician to arrive would have costed her dearly. That's when Dr Hess stepped up and helped the woman deliver the child, not caring for her own fragile condition.

(Read:A selfie during childbirth? No thank you doctor!)

In an interview she gave PEOPLE magazine, she describes how she had to rise to the occasion since it was an urgent situation and the child had to be delivered right away. "She really wanted to push," said Hess of Halliday-Johnson. So the doctor gave the green light, helping her deliver a healthy baby. Once the delivery was done, Halliday-Johnson's own obstetrician took over for the reminder of the procedures.

(Read: Are you past your delivery date?)

Dr Hess has been in service for the last seven years and said that situations are common when doctors can't make in on time. The medical staff including the nurses are equipped to handle such cases. But Sunday's situation needed the expertise of a doctor and things would have been far grim had Dr Hess not intervened.

Eleven hours after she delivered Halliday-Johnson's baby, Dr Hess gave birth to her second child, Ellen Joyce.

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