Mom welcomes baby girl during deadly Tipton County tornado

TIPTON COUNTY, Tenn. (WMC)- It’s been 2 short months since a tornado tore through Tipton County. leaving behind a trail of destruction and uprooting the lives of so many in its path.

The storm was raucous and unforgiving, destroying several properties and taking the life of one victim.

But in spite of these tumultuous times, there was a glint of hope on the horizon. In this case, it was the near-miraculous birth of a baby during the height of the storm. What one Covington woman thought was going to be a routine checkup for her pregnancy, turned out to be a whirlwind of events.

Sarbjit Kaur Marwaha remembers telling her family that she would be fine, “[I thought] no, we’re fine. Everything’s cool...it’s not a big deal. It’s just a normal appointment and you know it ended up not being a normal day,” she confided. She arrived at Baptist Tipton around 10 am on the morning of March 31st, not realizing that a tornado was approaching or that she would birthing her newborn daughter in the midst of it.

She was admitted just one hour before the tornado struck the ground. Her family wasn’t near her at the time. Marwaha says, “I know the greatest thing was that Dr. Feletty and the staff prayed before the surgery. So that was really great.” When the team at Baptist Tipton realized that they would have to deliver the baby via c-section, they knew right away they had to spring into action.

Sarbjit’s Delivery Nurse, Angela Aswell, says she remembers reassuring her team, her patient, and herself. “[I remember saying] we’re gonna do this, and we’re gonna have a baby, and we don’t even know if the hospital has been hit, we don’t know, what’s going on, but we’re gonna get this generator on, flashlights if we have to and we’re gonna have us a Baby and that’s what we did,” she said.

Although they had never been in a tornado, nor delivered a baby in the middle of one, they knew they just had to do what they’d been doing. “[They asked me] how do you do it? I said I just do what I do every day and I do this every day for the last 16 years and I love it and to say that I did that during a tornado is just awesome.” Aswell says.

Baby Cynthia was born that night; strong, healthy, and with quite the survival story to tell in the future. Although she was born 4 weeks early, Mom says none of this could have been done without the team at Baptist Tipton, giving her the comfort she needed at a time she had no one else.

As for baby Cynthia..she is quite the little warrior. Aswell spoke to the little girl, gazing into her eyes,” You’re going to grow up and you’re going to be strong, you’re going to be fierce, because you were born in [a] tornado. And you made it. Okay? You’re going to grow up and do good things. right? By the grace of God.”

Welcomed into the world with all this strife, it is no wonder that baby Cynthia is considered a little miracle.

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