Powder Springs officer Kathy Green's police academy training could not have prepared her for what she considers her most rewarding experience to date: Aiding a young mother in the birth of her baby boy early Friday morning.
"Training does not prepare you for this. What training teaches you is very basic," she said. "This was woman instinct."
Green was patroling in Austell when she received a 1:40 a.m. call for medical assistance at the Waffle House on Florence Road nearby.
When she arrived she found Marisa Escamilla, 23, of Dallas, in the back of the mini van in labor.
The now mother of two, was on her way to Wellstar Cobb Hospital with her mother, sister and a neighbor. They could not make it, with Escamilla's contractions coming fast and furious.
Someone in the van called 9-1-1 while they pulled into the Waffle House parking lot.
Escamilla said she was experiencing a gambit of emotions from excitement to panic.
"Everyone was trying to calm me down," she said. "But he was coming."
Green arrived and took charge. She radioed EMS, requesting paramedics immediately.
"They said it would take four minutes, I told them we don't have four minutes," Green said. "She had a contraction, the baby started to crown and I told her, 'Put your legs up, you're going to have to push."
A minute later, the baby was delivered.
"I got there; minutes later he got there," said Green.
Green, who for eight years worked as a police officer in Cobb before moving to the Powder Springs department, has no children of her own.
"Once he cried I was able to relax. It was a lot going on," she said. "But I knew him crying meant he was breathing."
She wrapped the baby in a hooded sweatshirt and placed him on his mother's chest.
Paramedics arrived soon after, cut the umbilical cord and transported mother and son to the hospital.
Escamilla has not decided on a name. Her eldest son, Jacob, is three.
"It is a toss up between Malik and Isaiah," she said.
Det. Lt. Matt Boyd is not sure how, but expects Green will be given some sort of recognition for delivering the baby.
For Green, being there is enough.
"I'm glad to have shared in the moment," she said.
—Kent Miles contributed to this report
