Pregnant mother has medical emergency at Galveston Walmart ; Employees host surprise baby shower for her

Woman goes into labor at Galveston Walmart

Galveston Walmart gives a celebration for a pregnant woman who went into labor during their shopping run.

GALVESTON CO, TX - Back in March, one beach day in Galveston turned scary quickly for the Mancera family – after making a pit stop at Walmart along the seawall in Galveston. 

"My husband was checking out and as he was checking out I was taking all the kids for a bathroom break and, all of a sudden I looked down, and it was so much blood coming out," said Serena Mancera, "When I saw the blood, I knew it was my diagnosis, I was diagnosed with placenta previa at 18 weeks."

Mother has medical emergency inside Galveston Walmart

The backstory:

At 25, Serena Mancera was losing not only blood but hope, she says, for her young son, Juan Mancera Jr., but it was the swift action of Walmart team members that helped save her life, Serena says.

"Whenever that happened, I was terrified, and I was starting to lose hope of reality. I was bleeding out so much. I’ve never lost so much blood, but the team here, they really did comfort me," Mancera said. "All of the women around me, honestly, they just sprung into action. They got me a chair to sit in because I didn't want to sit. I was panicking, ‘What do I do?'" 

After being rushed to the hospital that day, Serena had a C-section and Juan Jr. was safe and sound in his parents' arms just a couple of days later. 

He spent a little over a month in the NICU, but this past weekend was his first one home. 

He and his family came back to that Walmart for a big surprise. 

Surprise baby shower

What they're saying:

"My husband just told me that we had to come for wipes. I don’t know. I was confused because I said I thought we had some in the back of the car, and I was like, ‘Okay we will go to Walmart,’" Mancera said.

On Sunday, Walmart associates hosted a baby shower for the young family to make sure they were okay with all the essentials they needed for little Juan and his siblings. 

For this young family, both parents say they feel grateful for the unexpected strangers that became family. 

"He was born on St. Patrick’s Day," said Serena Mancera. 

"He’s a lucky baby, he's definitely a lucky baby," said Juan Mancera.