Source: NYPost.com
Most women are in labor for anywhere from 12-22 hours, but alone on a New York City subway at 1:30 in the morning, 24-year-old Wanda Dueno delivered her own baby in a matter of minutes.
The New York Post reports:
Wanda Dueno was headed to her sister’s home in The Bronx after visiting friends in Queens at about 1:30 a.m. when she realized that her baby wasn’t going to wait.
“I was trying to keep him in,” Dueno told The Post from the maternity ward at New York Downtown Hospital.
Little 7-pound, 2-ounce Libasse Dueno was born as the train was pulling into the Chambers Street station.
“No one was there. I was the only one on the train,” said Dueno, who also has a 1-year-old son.
When contractions started, she hit the emergency intercom button on the subway wall — but by the time a conductor arrived a few minutes later it was over.
“I already had him in my hands,” Dueno said while holding her bubbly son.
Even though Wanda has named her son, she’s open to nickname suggestions.
“You could call him . . . MetroCard?” her sister suggested.
MTA chief Joseph Lhota made the “joyous announcement” at yesterday’s agency meeting, saying, “I’m looking forward to meeting this little baby,” who he joked should have been named “Metro.”
Wanda, a New York City native who now lives in Philadelphia, was visiting relatives for her birthday next Monday.
Transit officials temporarily halted service to clean the subway car.
Maybe Wanda could nickname her baby “J-Train”.
Wanda isn’t the only woman to have her baby on or near a subway. Back in 2008, New York Daily News reported that 27-year-old Francine Alfontent was in labor on the subway. She and her husband were trying to make it to the Bellevue Hospital in Manhattan, but they didn’t make it. Instead, she gave birth on the F train’s subway platform. Unlike Wanda, Francine wasn’t alone and it was the middle of the day so several New Yorkers also came to her aid.
I can’t imagine delivering my own baby, let alone having to take off my clothes to deliver it on a subway train. Wanda is amazing…and I’m sure the conductor who found them is traumatized.
What do you think about this story? Can you imagine having a baby on a subway?
Alissa Henry is a freelance writer living in Columbus, OH. Follow her on Twitter @AlissaInPink
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