Johnson County Sheriff Deputy Shawn Swartzendruber; photo courtesy of the Johnson County Sheriff’s Office

The late-night patrol shift took a surprising turn recently for Johnson County Sheriff Deputy Shawn Swartzendruber. Last Thursday just before 2 a.m., Swartzendruber was dispatched to assist the Stence family who was on their way from Webster to Iowa City for the birth of their child. They were forced to make an emergency stop on Highway 1, however, when the mother’s contractions became more frequent. When he arrived, Swartzendruber found the mother, father, and teenage daughter on the scene, and the mother informed him she could feel the baby’s head. Before he knew it, a baby girl had been born, but they noticed something wasn’t right, the baby wasn’t crying.

The umbilical cord was wrapped around the newborn’s neck, and it was turning blue. Thinking quickly, Swartzendruber instructed the mother to lower the baby to her lap and slowly rotate the new daughter so the cord could disentangle. Once the baby’s neck was free of the cord, she let out a small cry and opened her eyes. The paramedics arrived several minutes later to find both mother and baby doing well, and all were transported to an Iowa City hospital. Deputy Swartzentruber was back patrolling the roads in Johnson County by 2:19 a.m.