Pregnant Woman Is Rescued from Sinking Car on Her Birthday; Hours Later, She Undergoes an Emergency C-Section

A pregnant woman gave birth to a healthy baby girl only hours after being saved from her sinking car by a Good Samaritan.

On Friday (February 6), 29-year-old Shedly Apollon told CBS 12 News that she was on her way to a prenatal massage, which she received as a birthday gift.

However, her car ended up in a pond near Stuart, Fla. after she began to feel faint while driving.

Keep reading to find out more…

“Immediately, I tried to open my driver-side door and the passenger door, but they were both submerged,” she told the outlet. “I was banging on the window like, ‘Someone save me,’ because normal people—they just drive by and record instead of assist.”

Apollon said that she was saved by an “angel,” a Good Samaritan named Logan Hayes, who swam out to her and helped get her to safety.

After she was pulled to safety from the sinking car, first responders arrived on the scene and took her to HCA Florida Lawnwood Hospital in Fort Pierce where CBS 12 News reported that an “emergency C-section” was performed.

Her daughter, Ivory Sully, was born at 33 weeks on Apollon‘s birthday.

After several days in the NICU, the mother and daughter were finally able to enjoy skin-to-skin contact on Monday (February 9).

“Having her hands touch me and feeling her heartbeat — it was surreal,” she told the outlet. “Today showed me I can be strong because she’s fighting as well.”

Speaking to ABC 25, Hayes recalled feeling “kind of dumbfounded” when he drove by the scene and said that he “couldn’t believe that at that exact moment I happened to be driving by at the exact time.”

After helping her escape through one of the car’s back doors, Hayes belatedly realized that Apollon was pregnant.

“She landed in the water next to me, and I grabbed her around her hips just to hold it because I didn’t know what or where she was going to go, like, what was going to happen if she could swim. So, when I was holding her, that’s when I realized she was pregnant because obviously I was wrapped around her and could feel her stomach,” he recalled.

After getting her to safety, he said that he looked back at the pond and “the car was already under the water and gone.”

In a statement on Facebook, Martin County Fire Rescue praised Hayes, noting that he “swam roughly 30 feet from the shore” to get Apollon and her then-unborn baby to safety.

“We are incredibly grateful for the bravery shown by this citizen. His quick decision to swim out and reach the driver undoubtedly changed the outcome of this incident,” they wrote.