Woman goes into labor in a restroom (luckily?) next to a police station

The lady was already on her way to the rural health unit office in Lanao del Norte shortly before noon on Saturday, September 11, when she — wisely, as it turns out — made a pit stop at the public restroom. As it rapidly turned out, however, that pressure in her bladder was something entirely more urgent.

Fortunately for the unnamed mother-to-be, the public restrooms were right next door to the Kauswagan Municipal Police Station, and she didn’t have to travel too far to ask for help.

Immediately recognizing that a new human being was about to literally drop into the world, Police Corporal Arturo Quitoras and Patrolwoman Clare Aboc sprang into action and, in the words of the  words of the Northern Mindanao Regional Police Community Affairs and Development Unit (PCADG), “safely catched the baby before she dropped to the ground”. The rescuing police officers handled the delivery and were able to snip the umbilical cord even as they sent for the nurses at the municipal health unit.

By 7pm that same day, the regional PCADG was able to do the right thing and tell the world about how it all went down via their Facebook post. We apologize in advance for the graphic imagery, in case anyone’s squeamish about childbirth.

(Last chance to leave if you don’t want to see blurred-out photos of a baby being born!)

Anyway, Coconuts has reached out to the regional PCADG to ask after mother and newborn daughter (we hope they’re doing okay!) and to clarify a few things, because we have questions.

First of all, the Facebook post says that the mother was able to ask for help at the police station next door. How is it that the photos show her still in a restroom? Did the police officers on duty figure that she needed to be near running water (fair enough), and did the restrooms offer the most convenient solution to this problem? Did they go back to the restrooms next door, or was there one in the police station?

The mother also has a serene smile on her face. Frankly, our experience with delivering babies is limited, so we’re not sure if this is how mothers look in the postpartum haze. (Coconuts has had feedback from a delivery room nurse and she says yes this is pretty par for the course.)