Baby delivered outside Paddy Festy’s Bar, Recess

ROADSIDE DELIVERY Newborn baby Kevin Martin Mullaney with his dad Kevin, mother Sharon and sister Eve at home in Renvyle, just days after he was delivered on the roadside outside Paddy Festy’s Bar in Recess.

Ambulance men deliver baby outside Paddy Festy’s Bar, Recess

Edwin McGreal

Children are not always the best at obeying their parents’ instructions or wishes, especially newborns.

Just ask Sharon Boylan from Renvyle in Connemara. Her second baby was three days overdue when she started contractions. An ambulance and doctor were called to her house and her GP, Dr Alex Michel, saw her off to University Hospital Galway, 90 minutes away, believing there would be little happening for a few hours.

But the baby had other ideas. Sharon’s waters broke as the ambulance drove through the Inagh Valley and by the time they got to Recess, half an hour from Renvyle, it was clear the baby wasn’t going to wait any longer.

They pulled over outside the famous Connemara landmark Paddy Festy’s Bar, and with the help of ambulance men Kevin and Martin, Sharon, gave birth to a baby boy. Proud dad,  Kevin Mullaney, was also present.

His name? Kevin Martin, a nod to the ambulance men who helped ensure a safe labour and a healthy baby.

“He was practically born when we stopped in Recess! There was no way we were making it to the hospital,” Sharon told The Mayo News. “The ambulance crew kept me calm and told me not to worry if the waters had broken. I’d an epidural the first time so it was a new experience.

“I knew I wasn’t in full blown labour and I told them that I wouldn’t be giving birth that day. They said I was definitely having the baby! Kevin was very good in the back, and really supportive. They didn’t panic, and so I didn’t panic. They talked me through everything.

“The cord was around the baby’s neck, but it was loose and they talked me through everything and kept me very calm and explained everything they were doing. It was great to have them there. They were fantastic,” she added.

Second time ’round  

For ambulance driver Martin it was the second time he was the hero for Sharon’s family.

“My sister Michelle had a baby Chloe almost 13 years ago. There was frost on the road as she was in labour in the car on the way to hospital. They went off the road in Kylemore and an ambulance had to be called. She broke her arm, but both she and Chloe were fine besides. Kevin was the ambulance driver who attended that scene. It’s remarkable that he would be involved like that with two sisters in such unusual births 12 years apart,” admitted Sharon.

It sounds like he could be the Boylan family’s guardian angel.