One Indianapolis family is thanking Metropolitan Police Department Officer Kelly Chappell’s quick-thinking measures that saved the baby they didn’t know they were having!
Bodycam footage revealed the dramatic moment Chappell saved the life of a premature newborn after the baby’s mother unexpectedly gave birth at home. The tiny girl, delivered at just 23 to 26 weeks of gestation and weighing about two pounds, had stopped breathing.
The footage begins with Chappell rushing into the home, responding to an urgent 911 call. Inside, she finds the mother holding the newborn, panicked and unsure of what to do next. Without hesitation, Chappell takes control of the situation, beginning chest compressions using just two fingers on the baby’s fragile chest.
“I felt for a pulse — couldn’t feel anything. She had a bluish tint,” recalls Chappell, a 19-year veteran of the department. Determined to give the baby a fighting chance, she cleared the newborn’s airway, removing a small amount of sticky fluid the baby may have swallowed during delivery.
“I managed to get two gasps of air out of her,” Chappell shares, recounting her relief at that pivotal moment. “This baby is going to have a chance. It’s really more of a miracle.”
For approximately eight minutes, Chappell worked tirelessly, administering lifesaving CPR until paramedics arrived and transported the baby to the hospital. Thanks to her swift actions, the baby began to show signs of life.
The baby’s mother, who had no idea she was pregnant, was in the bathroom on October 1st, 2024 when she suddenly went into labor. She managed to cut the umbilical cord herself, wrap the baby in a purple shirt, and attempt to stimulate breathing by patting her. Chappell commended the mother for her instinctive actions.
“I told her, ‘You did exactly what you needed to do to keep your daughter alive,’” says Chappell. The officer, a mother of two teenagers and a stepmother to an adult daughter, empathized deeply with the mother’s plight.
“It’s not unusual for people to not know they’re pregnant right away,” Chappell explains. She even shares her own experience of not realizing she was pregnant for nearly four months with one of her children. “Not everybody feels their child move.”
The newborn girl, whose middle name fittingly translates to “miracle” in Spanish, continues to recover in the hospital. Chappell, reflecting on the experience, emphasizes the power of being in the right place at the right time.
“God puts you in a place for a reason,” she says. “Every day, you’re just thankful the baby made it another day.”
The mother is also doing well, grateful for the lifesaving intervention of a seasoned officer who relied on both her training and maternal instincts.
In recognition of her lifesaving efforts, Chappell received an award from the Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department. IMPD spokesman Tommy Thompson expressed the department’s pride in her actions, stating, “We are incredibly proud of Officer Kelly Chappell’s lifesaving efforts. Her actions ensured that baby could breathe another day.”
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