2% of mothers give birth suddenly

Is there anything more dramatic than a sudden birth? Following last week’s New York story Arlene Harris looks at ‘precipitous birth’ and talks to a woman who had a swift labour.

POLLY MCCOURT made headlines last week when she went into labour on the side of a busy New York street. By the time her Irish husband, Cian McCourt, arrived on the scene, his new daughter Illa Isabelle had been born on East 68th Street surrounded by a group of around 50 well-wishers.

Giving birth on the footpath in one of the world’s busiest cities is not how most women would imagine their ideal labour, but sometimes there isn’t a choice and although rare, 2% of mothers deliver their baby in a most unexpected fashion.