From Soda to a Son, Man Delivers it All

GOLDSBORO — Going from soda pop to super pop, one local Pepsi delivery man delivered his own son Friday morning.

It happened so fast, he didn’t even have time to call 911.

Early Friday morning, John Maddox’s wife started having labor pains. They tried to leave for the hospital just before dawn, but it was too late.

“She said, ‘The baby's head is out!’ and I said, ‘No, the baby's head ain't out. You need to come on,’” Maddox recalled saying.

But his wife couldn't walk, and she lay back down.

“I told my oldest daughter to go get some towels, and when I came back, the baby's head was out,” Maddox said.

Baby Christian wasn't waiting, so the delivery man had to deliver his son at home.

“I was just waiting to catch [him], that’s all,” Maddox said. “Probably about the second push he came out, and the cord was wrapped around his neck and around his body. So when he came out, I just unwinded him, and he started crying.”

By the time paramedics arrived to take mom and baby to the hospital, most of the work was done.

“You don’t have to be a doctor to deliver, and it cuts down on the bill,” Maddox said.

Mother and baby were doing just fine Friday at Wayne Memorial Hospital. Little Christian was expected to go home Saturday with his parents and two big sisters.