Dateline: June 28, 2001

Deputy delivers baby 

Roger Estlack, Clarendon Enterprise

Deputy Kelly Hill with Shekima Johnson and her daughter Aunestie. Enterprise Digital Photo

Shekima Johnson of Clarendon didn’t think there was any big hurry when she woke up having contractions in the early morning hours of June 6. But just minutes later she delivered her baby into the waiting hands of Donley County Deputy Kelly Hill.

When the contractions started, Johnson’s sister, Lakeva, asked her if she wanted to the call the ambulance. Johnson said “no,” went into the bathroom, then came out and told her sister to make the call.

Hill was patrolling around the Clarendon Public Schools when the dispatcher called that a woman was in labor. Beating the ambulance to Johnson’s apartment, Hill was met by her sister who by that time had seen the baby’s head.

“She told me, ‘You’ve got to get in there!’” Hill said. “I told her the ambulance was on its way, and she said, ‘You just get in there; I’ll watch for the ambulance!’”

Hill arrived on the scene at 4:18 a.m.  Aunestie Alexandria Johnson was born at 4:20.

The deputy had never delivered a baby before, but he has witnessed several births while making runs on ambulances and in hospitals.

“I didn’t do much, although she did try to quit on me when the baby was halfway out,” Hill said. “I told her, ‘You can’t quit now; You’ve got to keep pushing.’”

Hill cleared the baby’s airway and stimulated it to take its first breath. About two minutes later the ambulance crew showed up with an OB kit, and Hill helped paramedic Debra Hill cut and clamp cord.

“I thank him a lot,” Johnson said. “We didn’t know what to do. We didn’t know anything about clearing the airway. He saved my baby’s life.”

Aunestie – pronounced “honesty” – was 21” long and weighed 6 lbs, 6¾ oz. and is in perfect health. She missed her expected arrival date of June 10 by just four days.

Johnson has three other children – two girls and a boy ages two to four. She was in labor with the first two for 12 hours and for six hours with the third. This time she says it only took 20 minutes.

The siblings were staying with their grandmother at the time of the birth, but Johnson’s nieces and nephews, ages six to eight, were present for the delivery.

“It was a big excitement for them,” she said.

Hill, who has been a fulltime deputy for two years and had been a reserve deputy for 17 years, says he’s just glad everyone is healthy.

“Anytime a child is born, it’s an act of God’s nature,” he said. “I was just there.”

Johnson disagrees with his modesty.

“You helped out a lot, and I appreciate it,” she told him. “She would have died if you hadn’t been there.”

Both mother and baby were examined at a hospital and released the next day. They are resting at home and grateful for Hill’s assistance.