Security Guard Recalls Stepping in to Deliver a Baby in an Elevator on Mother’s Day: 'It Was Surreal'

"I feel totally grateful," the mom, Betzabeth Perez, tells PEOPLE of the moment Elias Davila helped bring her baby into the world

A security guard is recalling the moment when he helped a mother deliver her baby in a hospital elevator on Mother's Day in 2022.

At the time, Elias Davila was feeling down. A year earlier, five days before the annual springtime holiday, his mother, Teresa Villarreal, had died. "I was going to see if anybody wanted to leave early and I could cover their shift so they can be with their mom," he tells PEOPLE. "I didn't have mine, and I was feeling kind of sad."

About fifteen minutes before Davila's shift ended, a man came running into the lobby at the Medical City Dallas Hospital in a panic. "He was like, 'Hey, I need some help! My girlfriend is having a baby,' " Elias recalls the man, Adolfo, saying.

Davila, 59, grabbed a wheelchair and brought it outside to the man's car for the young woman, Betzabeth Perez, now 27. "She was in the backseat and was already in labor," he says, "which I knew nothing about. I was like, 'Oh my God!' "

Related: 10-Year-Old Missouri Girl Named Miracle Helps Deliver Baby After Mom Goes Into Labor at Home

After getting the woman in the wheelchair, Davila says, "Her boyfriend, he panics, got in the car and took off to go park the car. So I was running down the lobby with her, calling on the radio, saying, 'Give me some help.' "

Adds Davila: "Of course, the dispatcher dispatched everybody, but to a whole different location. So now I had nobody. I rounded the corner and pushed the button to the elevator. She started to scream, and I was like, 'You've got to hold on. You can't have your baby right now.' As soon as I pushed the second button, she pulled down her pants."

After pushing Perez into an elevator, the woman had her baby. "I was like, 'Oh my God!' So I grabbed the baby and the door opened again, and I stuck my foot out so the door wouldn't shut," Davila details.

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"I just gave her the baby so I could push the wheelchair and get her upstairs. The other security guard came in with me into the elevator and we took her to the third floor," he continues.

Noting that the ordeal "happened so fast," Davila — a father to two grown children himself — explains, "It was surreal. It was crazy."

About two hours after Davila's shift ended, he went to see Perez and the newborn, named Mia, in the hospital room, and he officially met the baby's father. "I introduced myself," he says. "What a way to meet!"

Related: Woman Welcomes Baby at Home. 8 Hours Later, She Coaches Her Sister Through Birth — In the Same Tub (Exclusive)

Now, two years later, Davila has become friends with Perez, who's expecting her fifth baby in August.

For Mia's first birthday, the security guard bought a gift for the little girl and was able to meet her in person. "They sent me pictures, so I could see what she looks like now," Davila says. "And when they came to see me, the little baby so naturally came straight to me. It is really weird, but she knows me. She just gave me her little arms and didn't cry at all."

Perez looks back at Davila's help with Mia's birth with gratitude. "I feel totally grateful," she tells PEOPLE. "He reassured me that everything was going to be fine and was super helpful throughout the whole process."

In turn, Davila now feels a deeper understanding of the meaning of Mother's Day. "Instead of being sad because my mom is not here, I think to myself, 'Maybe this happened for a reason,' " he says.

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