Baby delivered on dual carriageway

He delivered babies as a medical student, but not even that prepared Wissam Alsahli for the drama of his son's birth on a dual carriageway in the Republic of Ireland.

The cardiology specialist registrar was recovering last night at home with his wife, Razan, and their newborn, whose first life experience was the mayhem of Dublin rush-hour traffic.

"We're all just exhausted," Dr Alsahli, 30, told the Irish Independent last night.

He had been travelling from Clonsilla with Razan in the back of his BMW when she went into labour amidst crawling traffic on the N3 near Blanchardstown.

He took the bus lane in a last-ditch attempt to get to a hospital but when Razan saw the baby's head protruding, Dr Alsahli knew it was up to him to make the delivery. "I had delivered babies as a medical student . . . but that was a long, long, time ago," he said.

Recalling the event, he added: "My wife went into labour and I was stuck in traffic. I went into the bus lane for a while and then had to go back into traffic."

He rang an ambulance on his mobile phone.

"My wife told me she felt the head of the baby was out and I stopped the car. I am a doctor.

"I ran around to the back of the car and saw the head was out. I told her to push one more time and the baby was delivered," he said.

When the baby emerged, Dr Alsahli, who works at St Vincent's Hospital in south Dublin, said he made sure he was breathing before cutting the umbilical chord.

Emergency services then arrived and Dr Alsahli, from Syria, Razan and baby reached Holles Street hospital at about 6.30pm.

Their baby, who is yet to be named, is a healthy boy and weighs in at 3.5kg.

Source: Irish Independent