While most people were worried about being late to work or cursed in their cars at the stand-still conditions on I-93 Northbound on a holiday, Monday afternoon, Norwood resident Ena El-Hadidy worried about getting to a hospital to deliver her baby.
“I went to MGH first and they told me I wasn’t in active labor and to go home. I went all the way back to Norwood and was home for literally one hour,” said El-Hadidy.
Around 1 p.m., El-Hadidy and husband, Ali Siam, thought the drive to Massachusetts General Hospital from Norwood would be a smooth ride into Boston. What they were not expecting was the traffic due to a movie shoot that brought them to a terrible traffic jam as El-Hadidy was experiencing contractions. The movie shoot that caused the immense traffic was for new movie “R.I.P.D.” starring Ryan Reynolds, Kevin Bacon and Jeff Bridges.
The now-relaxed mom of two described the panic that set in when she, her husband and mother, Nidaa Rahmy, hit traffic: “We were trying to go to the hospital… and then I didn’t make it. We pulled off at exit 14, near UMass Boston and Ali called the ambulance.” El-Hadidy said that her mother, Rahmy, who was in the car with the couple, was was coaching her on the road to the hospital and as they waited roadside for help to arrive.
Recalling what she felt when she knew she was ready to deliver, El-Hadidy says, “It’s the feeling that your body just wants you to push and the baby just wants to come out and it’s completely beyond your control… I had been pushing in the car the whole time, since exit 6, and I thought to myself, ‘I’m definitely in active labor.’”
The brave mom had no time for painkillers and had an entirely natural labor that lead to a delivery that clearly waited for nothing. El-Hadidy said of her husband, “He was very nervous but remained extremely supportive during the whole thing.”
The ambulance arrived with three Boston EMTs, including 2 trainees. El-Hadidy described them to be very helpful and when asked about what it was like in the ambulance, she said, “Literally, it was ‘1! 2!’ …and then the baby came.” One of the EMTs describes that the time between getting the laboring mom into the ambulance and delivering the baby was “like not even 1 minute – she was having contractions, then baby!”
At 1:24 p.m., El-Hadidy delivered a beautiful baby girl, Syrene Siam, at 7 pounds, 8 ounces. Baby Syrene and El-Hadidy are both in good health and are expected to leave the hospital in a routine time frame.
Younger sister of the new mom of two, Aliaa El-Hadidy, recalls first hearing about the dramatic road-side delivery: “I was extremely shocked and nervous but thankful everything went smoothly and everyone was healthy.” She joked by saying, “I would have never expected anything else. Ena has always been one to make an entrance – clearly she passed that trait along to Syrene.”
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