Police officer, dispatcher help deliver baby on side of LIE
DIX HILLS, Long Island (WABC) -- They say life's a journey, right? Newborn baby Charlotte Presley Livote started hers in the fast lane, so to speak!
And her parents' adrenaline is still flowing. It all started on the westbound side of the Long Island Expressway during rush hour Tuesday evening.
Janine and Edward Livote were trying to reach Winthrop Hospital in Mineola, but at exit 51 in Dix Hills, Charlotte was just... ready. And her mom, Janine, knew it.
"She's like, pull over, I need you to look. And upon looking I saw the baby starting to creep out, " said Janine's husband Edward.
"You have this urge to push. So...it wasn't going away. I couldn't just cross my legs!", Janine told us.
And so, dad delivered baby Charlotte while they were pulled over on the left shoulder of the HOV lane, where most of us wouldn't even want to change a flat tire.
"It's either I can go into complete panic mode and like freak out and freeze, or I can say this is happening and this is my life God has like, blessed me with this moment," Edward said.
It's worth noting that Edward did have help. Suffolk County Emergency Services dispatcher Jon Hallock guided him on the phone. And Suffolk County Police Sgt Peter Scheuerer, who was first on the scene, helped Edward tie off the umbilical cord, which he was prepared to do, with his shoelace.
"I was shirtless with one shoe off, and baby in hand, " he said.
While the HOV lane isn't exactly an ideal place to give birth, Janine says this was better than giving birth to her first baby, which involved 24 hours of labor. Charlotte was painless, and proof that her husband has what it takes.
"I feel like it! Doctor Eddie!" Janine joked. The Livote family is expected to bring Charlotte home from Huntington Hospital on Thursday.
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