The nurse was on her way to work when she spotted the incident.
A Minnesota mom is thanking the nurse and police officer who helped save her infant daughter’s life.
Kristin Lonsbury said she was driving on the highway in September when she heard her then 6-week-old daughter, Elise, choking while strapped in the backseat.
“I had a mirror so I could see her. Her head was covered in vomit and then I heard silence so I knew I needed to pull over,” Lonsbury told InsideEdition.com. “I got her out and her little arms just kind of dropped to her sides while I held her and she was unconscious.”
The mom dialed 911. Police tried to get her to perform CPR on her baby, but Lonsbury was overwhelmed with the situation.
“I was just frantic and frazzled. I was screaming 'wake up' and shaking her,” Lonsbury said.
Thankfully that’s when Virginia Marsh, a nurse who was on her way to work, saw Lonsbury on the side of the road and pulled over to help.
“I felt a hand on my shoulder. I saw the nurse in her full scrubs. She had seen me on the side of the road holding my daughter. I handed her my baby and she started doing back blows,” Lonsbury said.
A state trooper who had not heard the call but saw the two women also pulled over to helped. The newborn was going in and out of consciousness, but Marsh and Lt. Paul Stricker of the Minnesota State Patrol were able to get the baby’s pulse stronger.
Doctors said Elise had aspirated on her vomit, a symptom of having been born premature.
Thanks to Marsh and Stricker’s life-saving measures, Elise is now a “regular happy baby.”
Lonsbury has met with Marsh, who happens to live seven blocks away from her, and the two have become friends.
Lonsbury and baby Elise also met with Stricker on Thursday to thank him for stopping.
“They saved my baby. It sheds new light to everyday we have with her,” Lonsbury said. "The fact that both heroes took the time out of their day to stop, it’s amazing. They didn’t have to. The fact that they did and were able to start CPR when they did is the reason we have our little girl.”
