A mother gave birth to a baby boy on the roadside near Dublin’s Kevin Street Garda Station after rush hour traffic made it impossible to reach Holles Street Hospital in time.
Having done it all before with their first child four years ago, Stephen Connolly (32) and his wife Lisa (33) felt they’d have plenty of time to travel from their Kildare home to Dublin City Centre before the arrival of their second child.
When Lisa’s contractions started at 8am on Wednesday morning, they calmly dropped their son Jake (4) off to the creche and carried on to the hospital… hitting morning rush hour traffic.
When her waters broke near Christchurch Cathedral, Lisa ordered Stephen to pull over.
“It was not in the plan but it all turned out great,” the delighted dad told Independent.ie.
“We got stuck on the M4. I drove down the bus lane, I broke every red light I could to try and get there on time. By this stage Lisa’s contractions were down to five minutes and she was still fine.
“I avoided the quays, as I thought traffic would be heavy along there. Instead I headed up James’s Street but we got stuck in traffic there instead. By this stage I was getting a little nervous.
“Lisa’s waters broke at Christchurch and as soon as this happened she gave me a shout. She was saying: ‘Pull over, the baby is on the way out’.”
A passing cyclist stopped to help, calling the paramedics who were on the line to help Stephen deliver his 6lb 11oz baby son, Jonah.
“I ran around to Lisa and by the time I was around the baby was half way out. I pulled him out the rest of the way,” he explained.
Thankfully the emergency services and Dublin Fire Brigade were on the scene within minutes. The cord was cut in the car and the family were whisked away to Holles Street.
We were a bit late to this morning’s impatient baby born in mum’s car on the way to the hospital outside Kevin Street Garda station 1/2 pic.twitter.com/RYik2PPQab
— Dublin Fire Brigade (@DubFireBrigade) November 29, 2016
Did you baby arrive early and in dramatic style? Share your story in the comments or on Twitter @HerFamilydotie.
Image of baby Jonah taken by Stephen Connolly and published in the Irish Independent.
