14 DAY TRIAL // Port Authority Police officers have delivered a baby in the most unusual place yesterday – the entrance to the Holland tunnel.
A Brooklyn woman has had her daughter on the Jersey City side of the tunnel. The baby weighs 5 pounds and 15 ounces (2.7 kg) and she will be named “Holly,” as a tribute to the tunnel where she has been born.
The baby was delivered during rush hour traffic, news outlets report. 21-year-old Kai Tang and her boyfriend, 24-year-old Jing Chen live together in New York, but they were in Philadelphia when the contractions started.
They decided to drive back, around Hudson County, when Kai went into labor yesterday morning.
However, they had no idea about the traffic on their route at 6:45 a.m. NJ.com reports that they pulled over at the toll plaza in Jersey City.
"I was so worried if I could make it to the hospital," Kai recalls. She was 38 weeks pregnant, NBC New York adds.
P.A. police spokesman Joseph Pentangelo details that a police squad car has been signaled by the driver of the Nissan pulled by the side of the road.
Officers Luis Alvardo and Catherine Prior called for an ambulance and they asked for the help of officer Matthew Smith.
A certified EMT, Smith helped with the delivery on the backseat of the vehicle, using an obstetrical kit.
By the time the ambulance got there, the child was already born. The woman and her daughter were transported to Jersey City Medical Center.
"I was not expecting I would have a baby so soon at all. My first baby took me more than 10 hours, so my experience, I was scared more than anything,” Kai describes.
Jersey City Medical Center spokesman Mark Rabson reports that the child and the mom are healthy.