Megan Warfield is definitely the kind of person you'd want by your side in an emergency. The 30-year-old Maryland woman isn't just calm under pressure; she's also an experienced firefighter, trained to respond to all sorts of scenarios. So when Warfield was involved in a multi-car crash earlier this month, she immediately sprang into action — despite being nine months pregnant and just hours away from giving birth.
The devastating accident happened on October 3
At the time, Warfield was a passenger in another vehicle, and managed to escape the crash unharmed. But as soon as she realized what had happened, Warfield jumped out of her car and began to direct traffic until first responders could arrive.
According to Today Parents, that's when she noticed one of the cars had overturned in the roadway, and a woman was badly injured and trapped underneath a crumpled-up Honda Civic.
Warfield rushed over and began checking the woman's vitals
Incredibly, the woman was alive and talking, but couldn't get out of the vehicle on her own.
“I started to climb in [the car] with her, but then I was like, ‘What are you doing? You’re nine months pregnant,’” Warfield told Today Parents.
So, knowing that first responders would be there shortly, Warfield did her best to stabilize the victim.
"I ended up holding onto her to keep her in place because I wasn’t sure of her injuries at the time," she explained. “It was also important that I keep her calm. It was a pretty traumatic event."
At the same time, Warfield was starting to feel some painful cramping
At this point, she'd been in the final stretch of her pregnancy for weeks. She'd even been relegated to desk duty while awaiting the arrival of her third child. But now, as the cramping grew more and more intense, she began to sense that there wasn't much time left.
“I don’t know how I did what I did because the cramping was so bad,” Warfield recalled. "I must’ve just been running on adrenaline."
Once paramedics arrived, Warfield let them take over. The victim was ultimately extracted from the vehicle and taken to a nearby hospital for treatment. In fact, Baltimore County EMS units took a total of six different patients to two different local hospitals after the crash. But luckily, none of the injuries were life-threatening.
Soon, Warfield was heading to the hospital too
But not because she suddenly realized she'd been injured.
The mom of three wound up at Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore, where doctors told her that her that the accident had managed to induce labor. What's more, it actually caused her baby to be "knocked" into a sideways position in the womb, which could present some challenges.
According to the Mayo Clinic, this is called a "transverse lie." Essentially, it occurs when a baby is positioned horizontally across the uterus, rather than vertically, as it should be. Unfortunately, this can lead to birth complications if the fetus doesn't return to a head-down position before delivery, and often ends with an emergency C-section.
Luckily, everything turned out OK
On October 4 — less than 24 hours after the crash — Warfield welcomed a new baby girl with her boyfriend, Joshua Daugherty. And, according to doctors, she was 100% healthy.
Baby Charlotte has since joined her older sister Ellie, 6, and older brother, Jameson, 5, back at home. There, Warfield and Daugherty (who was actually one of the first responders who arrived at the scene) continue to count their blessings that everything worked out OK.
In the meantime, her local town of Bowleys Quarters has given the mama a round of applause.
"Since no good deed should go unrecognized, we wanted to highlight Megan's heroic and selfess actions," wrote the Bowleys Quarters Volunteer Fire Rescue & Marine on its Facebook page.
In the comments section, people couldn't hold back their praise of the selfless mom.
"Thank you for being a great person," wrote one local. "I'm glad to know you're in our community helping when people are in need."
"Wow what a mama!!" added someone else. "Thank you for your continued service and dedication to our community."
