It's quite unlikely that a California woman will endure another shopping trip like the one she had this week.
Issimar Sepulveda, who owns the El Parian Neighborhood Market and Carniceria in Fresno, told KFSN that a woman named Erica came in Dec. 26.
“We had this lady here who came in to buy a soda, and then she told the cashier to call the ambulance,” he said.
Sepulveda said that attempts to contact emergency services were fruitless.
Employees and customers then heard screaming.
“So then I started listening to her screaming, so then I came to the carniceria (butcher shop) and then I was like, “What’s going on?” Sepulveda said. “She was right there, like, bending, (saying) ‘Oh, my God, oh, my God I am having my baby.’”
Supermarket employees rushed to assist the woman. Their efforts were captured by the surveillance camera.
The video showed the pregnant woman walk over to a table while shopping and then fall to her knees. Another part of the video shows the woman giving birth as an employee rushes over to catch the baby in the butcher’s apron. Sepulveda cut the cord.
The birth of the little boy was only part of the battle. Sepulveda told KFSN that the baby looked purple following the birth.
“The baby was purple and I was like, ‘Why was he purple? What’s going on?’ and I was so worried, praying, ‘God, oh, my God, help me for, you know, for the health of this baby,” Sepulveda, a mother of two, said.
An employee grabbed a suction syringe from their home nearby so the baby’s airway could be cleared. The employees also kept the baby warm.
The supermarket shared a video of the baby, who was later named Toby, being taken to a local hospital by paramedics.
A picture of Sepulveda holding little Toby was shared in a Facebook post.
On Tuesday, Sepulveda set up a GoFundMe page for Toby and Erica.
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