Doctor in labor realizes patient is alone — so she delivers her baby before giving birth to her own child

Helping others when it's convenient is admirable, but putting others first in challenging moments requires exceptional courage. Dr. Amanda Hess, an obstetrician from Kentucky, exemplified this selflessness when she prioritized assisting another pregnant woman, Leah Halliday Johnson, over her own pressing needs. According to NBC, Hess—who was nine months pregnant at the time—was preparing for her own delivery, when she noticed Johnson was in distress with no one available to help. Facing a challenging situation, Hess made a bold and compassionate choice to step in.

Both women were at the hospital, ready for their deliveries. Although Dr. Hess had previously examined Johnson, she was not scheduled to deliver her baby. "I saw her three or four times and I liked her a lot. She wasn’t supposed to be on call since she was having a baby herself,” Johnson recalled. But fate had different plans for the duo. In a Facebook post shared by Dr. Hala Sabry, it was revealed that Hess "was getting into her patient gown to prepare for her induction and delivery [when] she overheard the nurses preparing for a woman in active labor who needed to deliver immediately because the baby was in distress." She enquired if they required help and jumped to offer assistance.

According to PEOPLE, Johnson was only 1 cm dilated when she checked into the hospital, but her labor progressed unexpectedly fast. While her scheduled OB-GYN was on the way, Hess recognized the urgency of the situation. The nurses instructed Johnson not to push, but the umbilical cord being loosely wrapped around the baby’s neck posed a significant complication. Realizing the baby was in distress and needed immediate delivery, Hess knew she had to step in. "She was definitely in doctor mode. My husband noticed something was going on because she had a hospital gown on. I didn't notice that because I was on the delivery table. I was in my own world there,” Johnson recalled.

“I was not being quiet about the fact that it was difficult for me not to push,” Johnson shared, describing her intense pain. The mom added that she was in terrible pain and let out a scream or two. Hess recognized Johnson's need to push and didn’t force her to wait another moment. “In her own words, she ‘put another gown on to cover [her] backside, put some splash boots on over [her] flip flops’ and delivered that baby!” Dr. Sabry's post explained. "I said, you know, I'm not on call, I'm here in a gown but I think we ought to have the baby,'" Hess recalled. About an hour later, her own contractions started. The following morning, she delivered her baby girl. Both mothers had successful deliveries, with both moms and babies doing well. Hess recalled being comfortable working late into her pregnancy but was impressed to have been active until the very last moment.