Baby Born Outside on Sled in Philly

A Philadelphia woman is going to have quite a story to tell her daughter about the day she was born.

Bella Sophia Bonanni was born on a sled Wednesday morning in the city's Roxborough neighborhood.

Philadelphia Fire Commissioner Lloyd Ayers told NBC10 that dispatch received a call for a woman in labor around 6:27 a.m. Only six minutes later, dispatch received another call reporting that the baby was born after neighbors stepped in and helped.

The baby’s mother, Shirley Kim Bonnani, says she woke up with contractions that were about 10 minutes apart. By the time she showered and was ready to go to the hospital, Bonnani says the contractions were too quick and too strong for her to walk.

Her husband couldn't drive up their steep, hilly street, so Fabian Bonnani put his wife in their toddler's plastic sled and began pulling her to the car.

But the baby wouldn't wait, according to the family. The family says with the help of neighbors and a 911 dispatcher providing instructions, 7-pound, 9-ounce baby Bella was born on the roadside.

Fabian Bonanni took the baby, wrapped in blankets, back up to their house. His parents, who just had witnessed their granddaughter's birth, helped the neighbors carry Shirley Bonanni, still on the sled, inside to keep warm.

An ambulance made it up the snowy hill and transported mother and baby to Temple University Hospital. Both are doing fine and are expected to go home in a couple of days.

Copyright AP - Associated Press
Contact Us