Hero shopkeeper uses shoelace to help deliver baby in carpark
A Cheap as Chips discount store worker in Logan has been praised as a hero after helping a couple deliver their baby in the carpark behind a 7-Eleven service station.
Sharyn Daley thought it was just another day at work on Friday, when a man ran into her store asking for a towel because his partner had gone into labour.
She quickly sprung into action and helped with a successful delivery before paramedics arrived.
“(All I could think of was) just survival. Someone needed help. So, you just rush and do what you can and instincts take over,” she told Sunrise hosts Nat Barr and Matt Shirvington.
“Dad was in shock. I sort of asked him to get the little toddler out of the back seat and occupy her — she was panicking.
“But after he got his toddler out, I could concentrate on mum and telling her baby is OK."
Daley added that when the baby boy came out he was somewhat discoloured — so, she began squeezing his arm and rubbing his head.
“Mum was very quiet. She introduced herself. I introduced myself. And she just kept saying, ‘is baby OK, Is baby OK?’ I said ‘Yes, I’m patting him hard and stimulating him to get more oxygen in. That’s all’.”
She then grabbed a shoelace to tie off his umbilical cord and used her sock to grab the placenta.
Paramedics arrived shortly after.
Daley, who is a mother-of-three and a grandmother to one, said that she had previously helped deliver puppies, which may have helped her.
“I think it may have (helped) a bit — with tying off the cord — and things like that. (But) keeping mum and bub and dad calm. That was my first priority,” she said.
She also added that she wanted to help the young family get started.
“I would love to speak to them,” Daley said.
“Courtesy of Cheap as Chips where I work. We have a cot, a change table, a mattress and a beautiful big hamper for them to help them get started,” she said.
Image: Seven