After learning about childbirth in class, 16-year-old delivers aunt's baby

(Image credit: iStockphoto)

published 4 May 2018

It's a good thing Morlie Hayes wasn't absent the day her child development class learned about giving birth.

Late last month, the 16-year-old from Eden, Utah, was surprised when her cousin knocked on the door and said her mom was outside, about to have her baby. Laura Creager wasn't due until May 19, but realized while she was out driving that the baby's arrival was imminent, and stopped at Hayes' house.

While Hayes was calling 911, Creager's water broke, and Hayes, remembering what she learned in class, quickly got her situated on pillows and towels and guided her through the birth. "It was an amazing experience," Hayes told The Deseret News. When Creager's baby girl was born just minutes later, Hayes made sure the umbilical cord wasn't tangled, and was washing the infant when paramedics arrived. Creager named the baby Kayla Faith, because "all of us had so much faith and work to get through this," she said.

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Catherine Garcia has worked as a senior writer at The Week since 2014. Her writing and reporting have appeared in Entertainment Weekly, The New York Times, Wirecutter, NBC News and "The Book of Jezebel," among others. She's a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.

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