Surprise! Brooklyn mom gives birth to healthy boy at home, with a hand from New York’s Finest
Who needs a doctor or a hospital?
A Brooklyn mother welcomed her newborn son inside their apartment with a hand — four, actually — from two NYPD officers, with all involved left a bit stunned by the unexpected arrival. Little Kanan McCoy weighed in at 7 pounds, 12 1/4 u00bd ounces after his healthy Friday morning debut in Bensonhurst.
“I was just amazed,” said Felicia McCoy, 32, after giving birth to her third child. “I was just in disbelief. Amazed. Like, this really happened. I have a great story to tell him now.”
Officers Marvin Cox and Christopher Mattar felt the same way after responding to a morning call of a woman about to give birth. The partners, the first two responders on the scene, were soon taking directions from an FDNY dispatcher as Kanan made his memorable entrance.
“I thought that was TV stuff,” said Cox, 30, after delivering his first baby. “I did not believe that was real ... It was just a surreal feeling.”
The officers received the call at 8:56 a.m. and Kanan arrived just 16 minutes later.
“Over the air, at 9:12, I actually said, ‘It’s the baby! The baby is out! Awake, breathing. We are good to go,’” said Mattar, 25. He offered a short review of the delivery: “Nerve-racking.”
McCoy was slated to give birth at Maimonides Medical Center, but those those plans changed quickly. She was surprised to see police officers in full uniform appear, and wondered where the EMTs were.
“Well, I was in a daze,” she recalled. “I was expecting EMS, but the officers came ... I was really amazed because they were really keeping me calm. They were like, ‘Oh, I see the head. Just continue to push.’ And I was like, ‘Oh my God, thank God I’m in good hands.’”
Cox said he knew things were all right when he spotted little Kanan’s head.
“I was like, ‘OK, we are halfway there. We just have to get out the rest,’” he recounted. “It was like ‘Oh, wow, this is really happening.’”
Mother and child were then taken to Coney Island Hospital, where they remained Saturday.
While the mother took the birth in stride once the police arrived, her husband was a bit more flustered.
“It was just funny to me,” said McCoy. “He was just all over the place.”
Cox and Mattar turned the scene over to the EMS in time for the medical experts to cut the umbilical cord, then returned to their patrol car for the rest of their tour.
“It was like, ‘Yo, we really just delivered a baby,’” Cox said of their subsequent chat.
Neither officer has any children, and one remained noncommittal about his parenting prospects.
“We’ll see what the future holds,” said a laughing Mattar.
