Polly McCourt Gives Birth on NYC Street, Names Baby After Good Samaritan (VIDEO)

By Daniel Distant, Christian Post Reporter Wednesday, February 26, 2014

Polly McCourt had her daughter, Ila Isabelle McCourt, right on the corner of E. 68th St. and 3rd Avenue Monday after her water broke in the foyer of her Upper East Side apartment. Fortunately for the mother, many good Samaritans were there to assist with sweaters, shirts and anything they could to make her comfortable.

One woman in particular was very generous; Isabelle, a stranger, gave Polly her coat and left without it. The gracious act inspired Polly to give her daughter the middle name Isabelle.

"We want to be able to contact her and say thanks," the mom said.

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The ambulance took her to Lenox Hill hospital, where doctors confirmed that little Ila was healthy and weighed 7 pounds, 6 ounces.

Polly, who is originally from Black Burton, Oxfordshire in the U.K., is already the mother of two other children, Conor, 6, and Adele, 4. She was volunteering at their elementary school when she began to feel unwell. After heading home and calling her doctor, she realized she should go to the hospital.

"I was starting to feel worse, and I thought, 'Oh, this is not good,'" the 39-year-old mom told the New York Daily News. "I went downstairs to get a taxi and my water broke, right in the front foyer of the building."

Her husband Cian McCourt, a lawyer, was stuck in traffic when he first got the news that Ila was on her way. Fortunately, by the time he got there a few minutes after the birth, a crowd of good Samaritans was already there, many of them giving clothes off their backs to keep the mother and baby safe and warm.

"There were about 40 or 50 people there, I think," Polly said. "There were a lot of people who gave their sweaters. I want to thank them."