A baby was born on a train between Galway and Dublin yesterday evening after her mother unexpectedly went into labour.
A GP and two nurses who were travelling on the train delivered the surprise passenger at 5pm, with the train stopped in Kildare.
Dr Alan Devine helped to bring her into the world with just a pair of plastic gloves from the train’s catering trolley.
He said he was watching the TV show Chernobyl on his phone when he noticed that the train had stopped.
He asked a fellow passenger what was happening and immediately rushed to help once he heard.
He arrived to the carriage and was “late on the scene”, he said, finding the woman in labour was being cared for by two nurses – an Irish woman in her 20s and an American nurse who was in Ireland on holiday.
Another woman who had raised the alarm was also present.
Admitting that he was “terrified” about delivering a baby in such an unusual setting and without any of his equipment, he said he simply “caught” the baby as the three women were running the show.
The little girl was born about 20 minutes after he arrived.
“The three ladies did extremely well and they helped the lady with the breathing and encouraged her a lot,” Dr Devine told Independent.ie.
“It was a key moment when the baby came out, it took a couple of seconds but she finally let out a big cry and so we knew everything was OK.”
The mother did “so well” he added, especially given that she gave birth without any pain relief.
Train staff held up blankets to give the mother privacy as fellow passengers waited patiently for news of a safe and healthy birth.
“It was really respectful and nobody was knocking on doors or complaining that it was taking too long, and we were there a while,” said Dr Devine.
The mother and baby were taken by ambulance to the Coombe Hospital and are said to be doing well.
Iarnród Éireann praised the nurses and doctor and passengers for how they handled the situation and announced that the baby girl will get free travel until she’s an adult.
