Baby Delivered In Backseat Of Uber Just Outside The Lincoln Tunnel
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- The new royal prince isn't the only baby making headlines.
Imagine delivering a baby in an Uber during rush hour. That's what happened to one mother outside the Lincoln Tunnel early Monday morning, CBS2's Natalie Duddridge reported.
Just half a day old, baby girl Sailakshmi just couldn't wait to get into the world nearly three weeks early. So unexpected, her mom and dad had to call a last-minute Uber to get to a Manhattan hospital.
"Very heavy traffic. I was screaming, so he said we can just ask for help, my husband. I said 'no, you don't go!'" mother Sathya Priya Senthil said.
There was no way the parents were going to make it to the hospital, so the Uber driver pulled over outside the Lincoln Tunnel near the toll plaza on the New Jersey side, and called for help.
"I was in pain. I felt the baby's head that was already out. I was telling them the baby was already out," Senthil said.
She laid down on her husband's lap, already in mid-labor when the Port Authority Police rushed over.
"They were sitting in the back seat. He thought the baby was coming out. Within a few seconds the baby came out," Port Authority Police officer Krystal Armenti said.
"It was crazy. It was sort of like a blur. You have no choice but to act," Officer Catherine Connant added.
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The baby girl was delivered safely, weighing 6 pounds, 3 ounces. She and her family were resting at Hoboken University Medical Center on Monday afternoon.
Through all of the commotion in the backseat of the Uber, the new parents said the driver stayed very calm.
"He was asking me basically pull over. He pulled over and flagged a cop down," father Karthik Lakshmanan said. "It has been a nerve-wracking day, an exciting day. I don't think we'll ever forget this day."
The name Sailakshmi means "goddess of wealth" and also "a quick-minded nature."
The parents said they can't wait to introduce the newest addition to their family, to her older, 8-year-old sister.