Health and Wellness

Amidst Destruction, New Life: Babies Sandy and Benjamin

November 2, 2012 Thomas Nocera
Photo courtesy of Lutheran Medical Center.
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As the winds whipped and roared in the early hours of Tuesday morning, October 30, Aron Shi and his pregnant wife Waichun Yung found themselves in a very precarious situation. As Sandy battered the city, Yung went into labor. Her water broke and, with conditions outside worsening, they could not reach the hospital in Manhattan where she was scheduled to give birth.

The couple was left with few options and quickly dialed 911. Within minutes, EMTs Anthony Graffeo and Mike Basti responded to the scene.

They found Yung on the kitchen floor, and, with no time to ferry her off to the hospital, decided to deliver the baby on the spot. The team delivered the child at 5:46 a.m.

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After the successful delivery, the husband, wife and newborn daughter, were taken to Lutheran Medical Center. The healthy baby girl weighed in at seven pounds and one ounce. While her parents intended on naming her Rebecca, considering everything that occurred, they opted to name her Sandy instead.

Meanwhile, over at New York Methodist Hospital in Park Slope, the Labor and Delivery unit found itself quite busy, too: nearly a dozen babies were delivered at the storms height. Some of the expecting mothers who made it to Methodist originally intended to reach hospitals in Manhattan, but couldn’t due to the severe weather conditions..

Photo courtesy of NY Methodist.

Anna Guttormsgaard was one expecting mother who delivered during the storm. Her son, Benjamin, was born at 7:51p.m. on Monday. “There were trees whipping around outside of the delivery room,” the press release quoted Guttormsgaard saying. “We don’t know how the hospital is ‘normally,’ but despite the hurricane, it was very, very positive.”


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