Long Island Dad Helps Deliver Newborn Son With A Little Help From YouTube

STONY BROOK, N.Y. (CBSNewYork) – A Long Island couple had a true home delivery.

Dad had to help bring their newborn child into the world, right on their kitchen floor. As CBS2's Ali Bauman reported, he got some help from YouTube.

All is quiet now for Mike Pappalardo, his wife, Jane, and their baby boy, Bryce, inside Stony Brook University Hospital. It's a welcome calm following the panic that set in early Monday morning for the Mount Sinai couple.

Mom realized her son was ready for an early arrival.

"I was coming down the stairs and I felt like I had to push," she said.

They called 911 and, along with the dispatcher, they realized they wouldn't have time to get to the hospital.

"We had to deliver him in the kitchen," Jane said.

It also meant dad, a high school teacher and coach, would had to oversee the rushed delivery.

"I can't say I was totally calm, but just focused on what we had to get done," he said.

Incredibly, just an hour before knowing he would actually face this moment of truth, he turned to the internet for help, just in case.

"I'll just watch a how-to-video," he recalled.

The YouTube training paid off minutes later. As he unwrapped the umbilical cord, first responders arrived to help clear Bryce's throat, so the newborn could take his first of many breaths.

"He's a big boy and he's healthy," Jane said. "We're very happy we had a safe delivery."

Big boy indeed -- Bryce weighs eight pounds, seven ounces and is 20-plus inches long.

Stony Brook Hospital midwives who usually perform the job say the whole family did a great job.

"Babies know how to be born, and when they're coming quickly, rarely is there a concern for a complication," Ann Visser said.

Mike says he hopes to never perform another kitchen delivery, but there will be a great story, and a joke or two, to tell young Bryce as he grows older.

"Yeah you know, you born over there. Now, go take out the garbage,'" he joked.

Mom and dad say they're sure Bryce can happily share those chores with his 2-year-old sister.