Bartender delivers baby in hotel lobby near Fredericton

This definitely wasn't in Monica Storey's job description.

The bartender at the Radisson Kingswood Hotel in Hanwell, near Fredericton, helped deliver a baby in a snowstorm on Thursday night.

Storey said she got the call when she was closing down the bar for the night.

"The person who works the front desk, Nick, comes over and says, 'There's someone having a baby in our lobby,'" said Storey. "At first I thought he was kidding."

Nick LaPointe who works at the front desk, said the mom-to-be's mother came to the front desk to tell him they were checking out to go to the hospital because her daughter was in labour. She went to get the vehicle.

The mom-to-be made it to the car with some help, which included LaPointe, but she couldn't get in the car.

"She told me to call an ambulance," said Lapointe. "The dispatcher for 911 started asking me personal questions so I just handed the phone to her mother." 

At that point, they got the mom-to be back inside the front lobby. LaPointe went in and told Storey and the chef what was happening.

When LaPointe got back to the outer lobby, he said the woman was on the floor giving birth. 

Baby couldn't wait

The little one was impatient and decided not to wait.

"I heard two screams," said Storey. "One come out of the mother and one was the first one that the baby let out.

"I ended up on the phone with 911 and they were like, 'You're going to have to tie off the umbilical cord.'"

Storey said she spoke with the grandmother of the child on Friday. Both baby and mom are doing fine.

10 fingers, 10 toes

"Both very fine — 10 fingers, 10 toes," said Storey.

Just to show that New Brunswick really is a small place, Storey found out her family tree had grown with the delivery.

"The front desk person asked if I knew them and I said, 'No, I have no idea who these people are,'" she said. "We found out my great-grandfather and her great-grandfather are actually brothers."

Storey, who returned to work on Friday, said the fact she helped deliver a baby, in a hotel, during a snowstorm had yet to sink in.

"You just start to laugh because you can't believe the craziness that can occur."

Blankets and towels

LaPointe admits he's not very good in situations like that but did the best he could. He said he ran twice to get blankets and towels to help keep the new mom and baby warm.

He said the chef was able to find something to tie around the umbilical cord when Storey asked for it.

The ambulance arrived shortly after and took mom and baby to the hospital.

LaPointe said his next task was to make sure everything was cleaned up before he left for the night.  

"I hope they got the room for free."