Surprise at one Wichita Falls school: Principal, teacher deliver baby

Elementary school administrators and teachers perform many tasks during a typical school day. Normally, delivering a baby is not one of them.

But, when duty calls …

On Wednesday, teacher’s aide Paige Lockstedt, who was due to have a baby in November, began feeling ill and went to a bathroom by the nurse’s office.

Principal Amy Simmons soon got a call from teacher Ashley Strain saying Lockstedt was about to deliver on the spot.

“So, I took off running down the hall,” Simmons said.

She found Lockstedt already in a wheelchair.

“Mrs. Strain and I grabbed the wheelchair, and we started running to the front while the nurse was on the phone with 911,” she said.

“’This baby is coming right now,’" Simmons said the mother-to-be announced at the door.

“And we’re, like, 'No-no-no, the baby can’t come right now!'” Simmons said.

But it could. Lockstedt got out of the wheelchair and ran to the bathroom with Simmons and Strain in close pursuit.

And then . . .

“Mrs. Strain runs into the bathroom — and catches the baby. I grab paper towels, and we are holding a baby,” Simmons said.

She estimated the total time from Lockstedt’s distress call to baby-in-hands was 10 minutes.

“I held the baby, and Mrs. Strain started rubbing the baby’s chest, and the baby started whimpering,” she said.

Firefighters and paramedics arrived.

“A firefighter leaned over and said, ‘You have a baby.’ I said, I sure do!” Simmons said.

Little Isabella entered the world — and Cunningham Elementary School — weighing 2 pounds and 9 ounces. She’ll have to stay in neonatal intensive care for a while.

But Simmons said Thursday mother and daughter are doing fine.

“Amy Simmons and I can now add baby delivery to our resumes,” Strain said in a Facebook post.

This article originally appeared on Wichita Falls Times Record News: Surprise at one Wichita Falls school: Principal, teacher deliver baby