Clarkstown 911 Dispatcher Guides Woman As Sister-In-Law Gives Birth

CLARKSTOWN, N.Y. (CBSNewYork) -- A Clarkstown police dispatcher was being hailed as a hero Saturday, after guiding over the phone a woman as her sister-in-law birth.

Around 7 a.m. Saturday, Clarkstown police received a call from a woman who said her 26-year-old sister-in-law was having contractions and had to get to the hospital. But as police dispatcher Lorraine Monahan asked questions, it became clear that the baby was not going to wait, police said.

Monahan immediately started to give the woman medical instructions on how to help her sister-in-law deliver the baby, and everyone remained calm until the baby was born, police said. Responding police officers assisted the baby girl and her mother until paramedics and a New City ambulance arrived, police said.

"We wanted to make sure that the baby was breathing once the head had come out, and then she had told me that the umbilical cord was wrapped around the neck, and so I gave her instructions on how to release that pressure. She followed it, and then we heard the baby crying, so it was a very happy ending," Monahan told WCBS 880 Saturday.

Monahan said the 25-year-old sister-in-law was the one who deserved the credit.

"She was the real hero. She was so calm. She was trying to listen, and she helped deliver her niece," Monahan said. "She did a very good job."

The woman and the baby girl were taken to Nyack Hospital, and both were doing well Saturday afternoon.

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