Navan dentist turns midwife to deliver son on the N2
Louise Walsh
A Meath dentist had to turn mid-wife very quickly on the side of the busy N2 last weekend when he had to deliver his new son - who was subsequently called after the ambulance controller.
Navan-based dentist David Murnaghan (34) was forced to take the unscheduled stop last Saturday morning when his fourth child decided he was going to be one of few babies to be actually born in Meath each year, due to the lack of maternity hospital in the county.
It was a real family affair as David was guided through the last stages of the birth by phone by his sister Mary Murnaghan who is a consultant gynaecologist in the Royal Hospital in Belfast.
David - who hit the headlines earlier this week as the dentist who has waived his fees to extract 27 of fizzy drink addict Michael Sheridan's rotted teeth and replace them with implants - said he was just 'relieved' that both mum Carol (35) and little baby Darragh were healthy and well.
"Carol was due our fourth child last Saturday but we had been up all night with our other children, who were sick, so we were exhausted," he said
"At about 5.30am, Carol thought we'd be going into hospital that day as she had a few movements but said there was no panic
"However, at 6.30am, she thought to call her aunt Vivienne who arrived 20 minutes later to look after the other children. Having been there three times before, I kind of thought to myself that this labour seemed to be happening a lot quicker than the others.
"We got into the car so fast that we didn't even take the child seats out and I started driving to Dublin's Rotunda Hospital from our home in Kentstown.
"However, just after Balrath Cross on the N2, Carol started shouting from the back seat to stop but I said not to worry, just hold on.
"But she told me that the baby's head was crowned so I pulled over on the N2 in the dark and the lashings of rain and rang my sister Mary straight away.
"I looked in the back and there was the top of the baby's head looking back at me so my sister told Carol to push really hard at the next contraction and there he was at 7.08am
"But there was a wall of silence from us until he cried. He also had the chord around his neck but it was easy to release.
"Mary told me to use my shoe laces to tie a tourniquet in the chord and dry the baby with some towels before putting him back on Carol's chest.
"I rang 999 for an ambulance and then continued to drive to the hospital, while Mary stayed on the phone to talk to Carol.
"The ambulance controller was very nice and called Darragh. It was only later that we decided we really liked the name and so baby Darragh was christened"
The ambulance met the family at the Blanchardstown N2 exit and brought the baby and Carol to hospital to be checked out as a formality.
"My sister Mary delivered our first baby Niamh (6) as luck would have it because she happened to be on call when we arrived at the Mater in Belfast and now again, she was also there when we needed her help with Darragh - our last baby.
"I didn't do anything special. Thankfully, there were no complications but it's definitely one to be remembered," he laughed
Both Carol and Darragh are now safely back home and being minded by the couple's other children Niamh (6), Emma (4) and Iarlaith (15 months)