Mom inadvertently gives birth on street corner
Polly and Cian McCourt hold their daughter Ila Isabelle. / Courtesy of NY Daily News
Polly McCourt was at home in her 68th St. apartment when she realized she was going in to labor. She rushed downstairs to hail a cab, but little Ila Isabelle McCourt arrived right there on the corner of 68th St. and 3rd Ave, the New York Daily News reported.
Pregnant mom Polly McCourt was in her apartment on E. 68th St. when she realized she was in labor. She hurried downstairs, where the building’s doorman Anton Rudovic helped her outside to hail a cab.
But it wasn’t fast enough for little Ila Isabelle McCourt, who arrived before the cab did, right on the corner of E. 68th St. and 3rd Ave. at around 4 p.m. Monday.
Polly and Cian McCourt hold their daughter Ila Isabelle, who was born outside their home on the corner of E. 68th St. and 3rd Ave. Monday around 4 p.m.
Mom and baby were then rushed to Lenox Hill Hospital, where they were found to be in good health. Ila weighed in at 7 pounds, 6 ounces.
Speaking from her hospital bed Tuesday, the relieved mom recalled her tumultuous day.
She had been volunteering for the spring fundraiser at P.S. 267, where her two older children attend school, when she realized she wasn’t feeling well. She sent 6-year-old son Conor to the playground with a friend, called the babysitter to take care of 4-year-old daughter Adele, and rushed home around 3 p.m. to call her obstetrician who told her to get to the hospital immediately.
Ila Isabelle McCourt is doing fine despite her dramatic entrance into the world, doctors at Lenox Hill Hospital said.
“I was starting to feel worse and worse, and I thought, ‘Oh, this is not good,’” McCourt, 39, said.
"I went downstairs to get a taxi and my water broke, right in the front foyer of the building.”
Doorman Anton Rudovic helped Polly McCourt, 39, give birth to baby girl Ila Isabelle on the corner of E. 68th St. and 3rd Ave.
“Anton knew that I was in trouble, so he walked me to the corner of the street to try to get a taxi. And then I went, 'Oh no. She's going to come out.’
“She just came out. I thought I had longer!”
Rudovic helped McCourt sit down on the street in front of the HSBC bank, as onlookers started to gather.
Paramedics help Polly McCourt into an ambulance after she gave birth to her daughter outside her home on the Upper East Side.
“Anton propped me up with his legs, and by that time, she was already out,” McCourt said.
Dad Cian McCourt, 40, was stuck in the Lincoln Tunnel when he got the call, and arrived on the scene three minutes after his daughter.