A Long Island family is celebrating a special Christmas Eve delivery -- a 7-pound, 4-ounce baby girl born in the ambulance on the way to the hospital.
Karen Hollander, 40, said she was finishing up shopping Tuesday in Westbury, where she bought a car seat for baby Alexandra, who was due in two weeks. Then she felt a sharp pain.
"I started feeling contractions every minute," Hollander said.
Hollander called her husband, Roger, who was home painting the baby's room. The couple have four children and knew that every second would count.
Karen Hollander started driving to the hospital, but had to pull over.
"I realized this baby was coming," she said.
She called 911 from a Great Neck Bank of America parking lot. Minutes later, police and paramedics arrived.
They raced to the hospital but the baby didn't wait. The couple's first daughter was born in the back of an ambulance just 14 minutes after Hollander felt the first contraction.
"She wanted to make a grand entrance," Hollander said.
Both mother and baby are doing fine. At a news conference Wednesday, Hollander and her family thanked the paramedics who delivered the healthy little girl.
