Winter Haven grandmother delivers child at home; both mom and baby are doing fine

Nineteen-year-old Chelsea Lewis knew it was time. So her mother took her to Lakeland Regional Medical Center to be admitted - but Chelsea was sent back home with instructions to take it easy since she was still only 3 cm. dilated. 

"I laid in the bed for like 10 minutes and I told my mom, it felt like I had to push," she said. Frantic, her mom made the call but not to 9-1-1 but to Ellen, her mother-in-law who lives about 20 minutes away. 

Ellen rushed right over. "I saw her lying on the floor and I saw the baby's head," she said. She took action, holding the baby's head while taking instruction from a nurse over the phone. 

On Jan. 3 at 7 pounds, 3 ounces, Chelsea's baby was introduced to the world. "It hit me. I needed to look for the cord," Ellen said. She removed the cord around the child's neck and was relieved to hear the baby start to cry. "I knew she was fine."