TWO PHILADELPHIA POLICE officers helped to deliver a baby on a subway train on Christmas Day after the woman unexpectedly went into labour.
Passengers said the officers helped coach the woman, identified as Yanjin Li, through the delivery, removed the umbilical cord from the boy’s neck and placed him in her arms.
The baby’s father wrapped him in a shirt to keep warm. The mother named her child Kris, as in Christmas, according to the Philadelphia Daily News.
“He was born on Christmas,” she told the newspaper, while thanking everyone who helped. “It seemed like the right thing to do.”
Sgt. Daniel Caban and Officer Darrell James — who joined the delivery-in-progress shortly before 6 pm on Thursday — later took time out to visit Li in her hospital room.
The woman’s water broke as the train headed eastbound for the 15th and Market streets station.
Passengers rushed in to help, turning the woman to her side and laying her flat across a row of seats. Once at the station, passengers stood in the doorway to prevent the doors from closing and to get the attention of the train engineer.
Word of the impending birth spread to Caban on the sidewalk above. James, across the station on the westbound platform, heard Caban’s radio call and ran over.
SEPTA police Chief Thomas Nestel III tweeted his excitement over the birth, writing:
Mother and child were reported in good condition at Hahnemann University Hospital.
James, a father himself, called the birth a blessing. Caban said helping bring a new life into the world was a gift all its own.
“I had already opened all my presents,” Caban told WPVI-TV on Thursday. “I didn’t know I had another one waiting for me around 5:53 this afternoon.”
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