Just a few months ago, toilet paper was a pretty mundane thing. Necessary, perhaps, but not nearly as loaded a term as it has come to be in the past weeks.
Most of us who’ve been to the stores lately have seen the state of things ourselves, but even if you’ve been staying home exclusively, you’ve no doubt seen the madness that has gone down regarding people’s almost inexplicable scramble for the stuff.
Now, if you walked into a Walmart and heard screams coming from the toilet paper aisle, you’d probably assume another fight was breaking out over the prized product — but that wasn’t the case for one Springfield, Missouri, Walmart.
No, instead it was a pregnant woman whose water had broken in that fateful aisle. Even better, the woman warned the people who came to help her that her last delivery had taken 30 minutes, so it was likely this one would be swift, too.
Store manager Jessica Hinkle, who admittedly can’t handle the sight of blood, told KY3 that they were surprised when they realized there was going to be a birth in their store.
“We were like ‘Oh my gosh, is this really gonna happen,'” she recalled. “We were like ‘OK, what do we do now?'”
Thankfully for all of them, a labor and delivery nurse happened to be nearby. When she heard and saw what was going on, she kindly offered her services, which was a relief to Hinkle.
“Another lady comes around the corner, she says ‘I’m a delivery nurse, can I help?’ and we were like ‘Yes please, please help us,'” Hinkle said. “She had gloves in her pocket, she was ready to go.”
A short while later, the fire department arrived to assist with the birth. Hinkle helped by directing foot traffic and holding up a sheet to preserve the woman’s last shred of dignity.
The entire process took about 45 minutes, and a baby girl was welcomed into the world to the claps and cheers of fellow shoppers who paused their errands to encourage the mother.
Hinkle said it was a unique event that brought everyone together, from the random shoppers to the firefighters, who were regulars at the location.
“They’re the typical fire department that shops in our store, so they were pretty proud of themselves,” Hinkle confirmed.
“And then when they took her out on the gurney, there were customers of course gathered and she kind of raised her hand, everyone clapped for her.”
The manager called to check up on mother and baby later, and found that they were both doing well.
“You know a feel-good moment,” she said of the surprise encounter, “everybody’s going through so much and with a baby it’s like everything comes full circle.”
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