A newborn Lyndhurst baby is going to have one heck of a tale to tell about his birth when he’s older.
That’s because his mom got trapped inside her apartment on March 12 — in pain and unable to open the door to get out and to hospital to give birth — and so he was born at home, the Lyndhurst Police Department said.
And, the quick thinking of Lyndhurst police officers likely helped avert what could have been an all-out disaster.
According to the LPD, officers, along with the Lyndhurst Police Emergency Squad, were dispatched to an apartment complex in the Meadowlands area of town on a report of a woman in labor. Prior to arriving on scene, responding officers were advised the woman was alone and had just given birth inside of the apartment.
However, she couldn’t move to unlock the apartment because of her body’s position and the amount of pain she was experiencing. Additionally, the sounds of a baby crying were heard in the background during the call to police headquarters.
At this point, officers were faced with a split-second decision and forced entry into the apartment. Officers then located the woman kneeling up against her bed and the newborn baby lying on his back on the bedroom floor between her legs.
Officers quickly removed the baby from the floor and wrapped him in clean towels and began tending to both the mother and her baby. While doing so, officers inside the apartment were on the phone with the woman’s husband, advising him of what had taken place.
Now if this story isn’t rare in nature enough, there’s another remarkable twist.
The LPD said the proud father told them his vehicle had run out of gas and he was leaving his vehicle on Rt. 3 in an attempt to run to the apartment.
“As luck would have it, he was able to grab the attention of a Good Samaritan to drive him to his apartment,” the LPD said.
Shortly thereafter, mother and baby were transported by ambulance to Hackensack University Medical Center, where they are both doing well.
If you’re wondering about the broken-down vehicle, dad was assisted with a tank of gasoline to get him to the hospital.
“(This was) an excellent team effort by all involved for a successful outcome,” the LPD said.
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Kevin A. Canessa Jr. is the editor of and broadcaster at The Observer, a place where he has served on and off since 2006. He is responsible for the editorial content of the newspaper and website, the production of the e-Newspaper, writing several stories per week (including the weekly editorial), conducting live broadcasts on Facebook Live, including a weekly recap of the news — and much more behind the scenes. Between 2006 and 2008, he introduced the newspaper to its first-ever blog — which included podcasts, audio and video. Originally from Jersey City, Kevin lived in Kearny until 2004, lived in Port St. Lucie. Florida, for four years until February 2016 and in March of that year, he moved back to West Hudson to return to The Observer full time. Click Here to send Kevin an email.