Missouri brothers help their mom deliver their new sister

ST. JOSEPH, Mo. -- A 13-year-old northwest Missouri boy has already shown his new baby sister that he will be a great big brother.

Adam Le of St. Joseph awoke about midnight last Thursday to find his mother in labor and on the phone with 911. With his dad at work, Adam grabbed the phone and relayed instructions to his mom, Theo Le.

Taking directions from his mother, Adam and his 11-year-old brother, Andy, guided their little sister and held her head while she was born. Meanwhile, 9-year-old Scott watched over Jonathan, 6, and Justin, 2, The St. Joseph News-Press reported Wednesday.

"My hands were gross," said Adam, an eighth-grader at Truman Middle School.

The baby, named Helena, had been due Aug. 21.

"I was kind of scared," Adam said. "I was scared to see my mom screaming. I thought the baby was going to die. I was really thankful, really glad and relieved when everything was OK."

The father, Hoang Le, said he drove as fast as he could through a storm and around a closed road to get home from his job at the Triumph Foods plant, but arrived home too late to help with the birth. By the time he reached home, his mother-in-law and first responders had arrived and transported the mother and new baby to a hospital.

And all five of his sons were crying.

"I was like 'good timing,"' Adam said."I never want to do that again."

The mother and baby stayed in the hospital for only 24 hours and all the boys are excited to have a sister, their father said, expressing pride for his sons.

"She was scared," Hoang Le said. "She pretty much told them what to do. Thank God [the boys] were here to help."