NORFOLK, Va. — A woman used a shoelace to tie off her new granddaughter’s umbilical cord after the baby was delivered during a traffic jam.
Latishe Andrews tells local media outlets that her mother was driving her to the Langley Air Force Base hospital after her contractions started Monday when they hit traffic on Hampton Roads Bridge-Tunnel. A Virginia Department of Transportation spokeswoman told the Virginian-Pilot that crews had stopped traffic to set up a lane closure for work at the tunnel.
Andrews, a cargo specialist for the Army, says she told herself they would make it to the hospital. But her baby didn’t want to wait.
After they pulled over, Virginia Department of Transportation workers rushed over to help. Evelyn Andrews, Latishe’s mother, told The Virginian-Pilot she used her shoelace to tie off the umbilical cord before an ambulance arrived.
Baby Marrielle wasn’t due until May 10, but her father, LaMardes Fields, also an Army cargo specialist, said she was “ready to go.”
“She’s independent, like her mama,” Fields, stationed at Fort Eustis, said about his new daughter.
Army specialist’s mother uses shoelace to tie off granddaughter’s umbilical cord after birth in car
