An expectant mother got to meet her bundle of joy before she could reach a Manhattan hospital Wednesday, delivering her new son in the back of a livery cab.
Even Sweeney started having contractions around 5 p.m., and 90 minutes later she and her partner, Inez Murray, decided to leave their Brooklyn home for the hospital.
The couple called the Arecibo car service but by the time the cab got off the FDR Drive at 42nd Street, Even’s contractions had become quite severe.
Then, her water broke. Inez told NBC New York that she took a look and "there he was, crowning.”
The taxi driver called 911 and the couple debated whether they should try to press ahead to the hospital.
"I kept thinking, 'How do I keep this baby inside me?” said Even.
But the baby didn’t wait.
Even gave one strong push and "his head popped out like a cork. I gasped. At least he's breathing,” Inez said.
Inez put Even's pants and jacket on the baby to keep him warm and placed the infant on Even's belly. The cabbie pulled over on 51st Street and Seventh Avenue around 7:30 p.m. and "within 30 seconds, we saw all the cops,” Inez said.
Paramedic's Sylvia Farrell and Scott Strong "clipped the umbilical cord and he was okay,” Even said.
The new mother recalls seeing "a whole band of policemen grinning, which was cute. And everyone was applauding on the street."
Cabdriver Juan Hernandez then lit a cigarette, and an emotionally exhausted Inez joined him, she said.
The new baby also got his name right there at the busy intersection: Finn Murray Sweeney.
His proud mother said he’s destined “to be an adventurer. He will have an affinity for New York cops and EMTs. They were his first friends.”
