Dispatcher talks 8-year-old through mom’s delivery of baby brother

TAMPA, Fla. — Thanks to a 911 dispatcher, an 8-year-old girl helped her mother deliver a baby boy while waiting for paramedics to arrive at their Tampa Bay-area home.

According to Tampa Fire Rescue, Krystle Garcia was in labor Monday morning when she called 911. The dispatcher alerted paramedics, but they weren’t quick enough to get there before the baby started to arrive.

Authorities say the dispatcher “expertly and compassionately” talked Garcia and her daughter Jazmine through the delivery of the baby. During an eight-minute call, Jazmine calmly relays the dispatcher’s instructions to her mother, gets towels and other items and secures the baby’s head.

“She is in so much pain,” Jazmine says at one point during the call.

When paramedics arrived, they took the baby and Garcia to a hospital. Authorities say both are doing fine. The baby was named Joseph James Snyder.

Garcia later said she was proud of Jazmine for handling the stress so well, with the help of the dispatcher.

“She definitely stayed calm when she needed to. I was hysterical,” Garcia said.