By LAYLAN CONNELLY | Orange County Register
As a veteran lifeguard for nearly four decades, Mike Brousard, 67, has handled nearly every kind of rescue that could happen on the sand and surf.
But when a woman started screaming in pain from labor contractions on his last day before retirement, Brousard was suddenly faced with a new kind of emergency scenario – the possibility of delivering a baby on the beach.
“As we jostled down the beach in the jeep, a contraction hit her and I recognized that the arrival of the baby was imminent – she was in a lot of pain and by the time we got to the parking lot she had had another,” the longtime lifeguard recounted. “I was sweating bullets.”
Thankfully, medics arrived at San Clemente State Beach just in time and hauled her off the hospital.
Brousard, who grew up in Long Beach and spent years lifeguarding several Southern California stretches of coast, recently released a book called “Warm Winds and Following Seas: Reflections of a Lifeguard in Paradise.”
“I wanted people to understand it’s not just a walk in the park out there,” the San Clemente resident said. “You’re not just in the tower getting a suntan.”