An unexpected passenger managed to sneak onto BART on Friday without a ticket. But I think you'll agree, she has a legitimate excuse.
Her name is Jada Thomas. The 6 pounds, two ounces baby was born on the platform of a San Leandro BART station.
Jada's mom, 21-year-old Jessica Bennett, awoke with mild contractions.
Still not due for a week, Bennett thought she had time to take BART to Oakland, drop off her 2-year-old son Jasuan with a relative and then get a ride to Alta Bates Hospital.
At 6:00 a.m., she boarded a train near her South Hayward home, but got off in San Leandro when the contractions became too severe.
A female rider and BART Police rushed to help Bennett. Within minutes, Alameda County firefighters arrived, including paramedic Jason Matthews.
"I put my hands down, said 'push' and she pushed and out came the baby and the baby started to cry. We cleaned the baby off, clamped an umbilical cord on the baby, cut the umbilical cord, gave the baby to Mom," said Matthews.
"They kept saying 'Oh, there she goes,' and I heard her whining, so I was scared there was something wrong with her, because I never delivered a baby on the BART before," said Bennett.
"I came down once, and then when I walked up there, I heard the baby crying. It was exciting, everybody was excited," said BART station agent Alex Leiva.
After her successful delivery on the BART platform, Jessica Bennett and her new baby girl were transported to Eden Medical Center.
Both were checked out by doctors and are doing very well.
They were joined by Jasuan, who met his little sister, away from the chaos of this morning's special delivery.
A single mother, Bennett looks forward to the day when she can tell Jada all about those nice people who helped bring her safely into the world at the BART station.
For more on this special delivery, read The Back Story.
