By Dustin Brown
The E-ZPass lanes to the Queens Midtown Tunnel provided easier passage than one mother bargained for last week when she gave birth to her third child while riding to the hospital.
Elva Novoa, 36, of Brooklyn was on her way to Bellevue Hospital in Manhattan Feb. 26 when her brother-in-law stopped the car in the toll plaza on the Long Island City side of the tunnel so she could give birth in the back seat with her own mother by her side. The little guy poked his head into the world around 6:17 a.m.
“They just ran out of time,” said Frank Pascual, a spokesman for the Metropolitan Transit Authority Bridges and Tunnels.
An MTA officer who noticed the car stopped in the middle of the lane radioed for an ambulance when he peered his head into the window and discovered the cause.
“When he got there literally the baby had just been born,” Pascual said.
Officer Renaldo Weekes, also an emergency medical technician, offered assistance before mother and son were taken by ambulance to Elmhurst Hospital Center, where they had an uneventful stay — aside from the media outlets that clamored for an interview with the mother and son.
The new infant is the third child for Novoa.
A traffic helicopter that hovered over the tunnel entrance after observing the stalled vehicle in the E-ZPass lane broadcast the story of the rush-hour delivery, which commuters heard on the radio.
“Pretty much everybody had a smile on their face as they were driving by because they all knew about it,” Pascual said. “There was none of that, ‘How dare you block the road?’”
But mom has yet to get back in touch with MTA officials to let them know how things are faring with her new bundle of joy.
“We still don’t know if they’ve named him yet,” Pascual said.
Reach reporter Dustin Brown by e-mail at Timesledger@aol.com or call 718-229-0300, Ext. 154.
