Cristina Hodgson
A TAXI driver in Madrid has become the hero of the day after his vehicle was turned into an impromptu delivery room.
It was meant to be a normal drive across the capital city, but the seven minutes it took taxi driver Javier Morales to cross from Ramon Gomez de la Serna Street to the Maternity Hospital in La Paz, became eternal.
According to reports from El Mundo, the 40-year-old had received a call at 7.45am Tuesday to pick up a couple and take them to the Maternity Hospital in La Paz.
Within minutes of collecting the couple, the woman anxiously started crying out that she was going to give birth in the taxi.
Reportedly the husband tried to calm his wife, reassuring her they would get to the hospital on time, however the mother insisted she could feel the head of the baby emerging and removed her trousers.
At Cardenal Herrera Oria Street, the taxi driver saw some municipal police and flagged them down for help. Despite the police escort and swift drive through the city, by the time the taxi driver arrived at the hospital the mother had her water broken and was in full labour.
The husband and the police ran into the hospital to ask for help, while Morales stayed in the taxi with the woman. Before the husband had returned with health workers, the baby had been born.
At a time where deaths are witnessed on a daily basis by health staff and police alike, the gift of new life made the moment emotional for all.
The baby boy, named Abel. is the third child in the family.
Just before the mother and baby were taken into the hospital on a stretcher, the woman apologised for leaving the taxi in such a mess. Though it was efficiently taken care of by the hospital cleaning staff.
The taxi driver informed El Mundo that since the start of the coronavirus pandemic, the woman was the third pregnant woman he had transferred to the hospital and that with the previous one, he had had to jump a red light as the woman had also been on the point of giving birth in his car.
Accustomed to negative news and seeing an empty Madrid, Morales was touched to be part of this heartwarming story.
