Jan. 2, 2014 -- Alyssa Meza is not even 10, but she has proved to her mother that she can handle a crisis.

The 9-year-old has at least won the unofficial title of "Best Older Sister" this week when she delivered her baby sister after her mother went into labor.

"She said she felt the baby coming out, and I told her to push the baby out and I'll catch the baby," Alyssa told ABC Chicago station WLS-TV of helping her mother through labor. "She got scared, and I caught the baby, grabbed the towel and wrapped her around."

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Alyssa also unraveled the umbilical cord wrapped around her sister's neck, an important step she said she learned about after watching a medical TV show.

"I had to unwrap it a little, and I ran next door to grab my neighbor because the baby was a little purple," she told WLS-TV.

Both Alyssa's mother, Monique Meza, and the baby were taken to the hospital after a neighbor called 911. Both mother and baby returned home on New Year's Day.

With a knack for acting calmly and quickly in a crisis, Alyssa said she hoped to become a paramedic someday, but her mother is already "very proud of her."

"I expected it from her, but not as much maturity that she has shown me, at her age, very mature," Monique Meza told WLS-TV. "I know she has a bright future ahead of her."