A GARDA was praised for helping deliver a healthy baby girl in the front hallway of a house in Co Offaly.
Garda Nichola Gleeson and Garda Kieran Trainor were reunited with three-day-old Mia Longworth at her home in Philipsvale, Daingean, yesterday.
The pair had been patrolling in Daingean on Tuesday morning when they were flagged down and asked to call to the home of Damien (31) and Niamh Longworth (28).
On arrival Garda Gleeson discovered Ms Longworth in the hallway of the house about to give birth. Garda Trainor went into Daingean to wait for an ambulance crew from Portlaoise while Garda Gleeson stayed with Ms Longworth. But before the ambulance arrived, Mia was born weighing 7lbs 9oz.
Garda Gleeson removed the umbilical cord from around the infant’s neck. “It was a second or two before she cried and I was thinking, come on,” she said.
“I have no experience. Niamh needed help and we were just there,” said Garda Gleeson. “I’d say it was the best call-out I’ve had so far.”
Damien Longworth said he had arrived home to find his wife in the hall. “If I had been thinking about it I probably would have collapsed,” he said. Mr Longworth had expected to be driving his wife to the hospital. “They came to give us an escort but it was too late. In fairness to her she rolled up her sleeves and got stuck in,” he said.
“There was no painkillers at all. I wouldn’t recommend it, but it’s great now.”
Ms Longworth was in labour for two days with her sons, Aaron (6) and Finn (1), and had not expected her third baby to arrive on the second push. The entire labour and birth lasted about 30 minutes, she said. “The little woman finished it off – that’s it now, no more.”
Ms Longworth praised the gardaí, ambulance staff, her mother Kathleen, brother Stephen and sister-in-law Imelda. “They were brilliant. I wouldn’t have been able to do it on my own, that’s for sure. So it was great having them there,” she said.
Ms Longworth did not know who the helpful gardaí were, her husband said, until “we got a phone call from the superintendent in Tullamore ringing to see how the new recruit was”.