Justin Ugaldo called his brand new baby boy a rock star.
That’s because Jacob Phoenix Villabona Ugaldo was born during a power outage at Adventist Health White Memorial Monday night.
Surely, mom deserves rock star status, too.
Critical condition patients had to be transferred by ambulance to other hospitals amid the outage at the Boyle Heights hospital, but mom Eileen Villabona powered through her delivery.
Using battery-powered flashlights to illuminate the hospital room, a dedicated team of doctors, firefighters and nurses made sure Jacob was delivered safely.
Justin said he was slightly nervous when the lights went out, but was grateful for everyone’s help.
“When the lights went out we said, ‘I hope they can come back on,’ but when it didn’t, they knew what to do, they kept us calm and we kept moving forward,” he said.
Eventually, the family was transferred to a hospital in Glendale where mom and baby are recuperating.
“We’re waiting to relax,” Justin said, adding that he’s excited to bring Jacob home. “We’re glad it’s all over.”
The outage was caused by an equipment failure stemming from an electrical panel at the hospital, according to the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power.