Good Samaritan reunited with mother who gave birth on street

The good Samaritan who gave the coat, and more, off her back, to a baby born on a bustling New York street corner has been reunited with the child’s parents

On Monday Polly McCourt, 39, attempted to get a taxi to hospital before their baby made her grand entrance on the streets of the Big Apple.

But she couldn’t get a cab from the family apartment of the Upper East Side of Manhattan and Polly gave birth on the sidewalk.

Passerby Isabel Williams, 20, was there, dialled 911 and gave the new infant and her mother her coat, scarf and flannel shirt to keep the baby warm in the cold winter weather.

Williams remarked that the experience was “intense, but really cool”, adding, “You just do what you have to do, you know? I saw a lot of people with their phones out taking pictures.

“I ran over and asked if anybody had called 911 and everybody said no. So I called the ambulance.”

Polly McCourt’s Dublin husband, Cian, got Williams’ first name and phone number at the scene so he could be sure to thank her later. In the ensuing chaos, he lost the number. The proud parents were given Williams’ full name later after their story went nationwide.

As a token of their appreciation, the couple switched their plans for the baby’s middle name to honour Isabel. Williams said she was glad to help. “And if they ever need a babysitter...”

“I remember you coming down to my level, and not many people did that,” Polly said to her upon their reunion.

Williams said she can’t believe the attention that her actions are getting.

“I got that coat at Goodwill for $40. I’m fine,” Williams says.

“I’m kind of shocked that doing what I did was such a big deal to so many people,” sh e said.

McCourt, 39, who is originally from the village of Black Bourton, Oxfordshire, gave birth at the junction of East 68th Street and 3rd Avenue.

Speaking from her hospital bed she told reporters: “He was trying desperately to hail a cab and a lady walked out five metres in front and hailed a cab and got into it.

“And I went, ’No, that’s my cab, I want that cab’.”

Her husband Cian, 40, who works for a New York law firm, was stuck in traffic when he received the call and arrived just after his wife gave birth to their daughter in the street during rush hour — a scene caught on camera by a passing news crew.

He said: “I knew instantly that it was Polly, but then I feared the worst. You think, ‘She’s been knocked down’.”

The couple have two other children, Conor, six, and Adele, four and moved to New York four years ago from Dublin.