At Aer Lingus, Ivan Beacom is used to delivering passengers and sales – but it was a first for the Business Manager as he delivered his own baby daughter.
Ivan Beacom and daughter Faye
The baby was due, but arrived early – with Ivan forced to deliver the child himself with the help of paramedics on the other end of the phone. “On Sunday evening at about 7.30 my wife said drop our two-year-old off to her granny, we need to go to the hospital. I was eight minutes over and back from granny’s, By the time I got back I was shouted at to get upstairs the baby is coming,” Ivan told Travel Extra.
While it would be a daunting task for anyone, even a health professional, Ivan recalled: “To be honest I didn’t have time to think. My wife said you’re going to have to ring the hospital and say what do I do and they said ring for an ambulance. Ambulance control said there was an ambulance on the way.”
And then the daunting part as they told him: “And now you’re going to have to deliver this child so are you ready?”
He recalled the drama of the delivery, saying: “They talked me thorough it: ‘can you see that the head is clear, are the shoulders clear’ and I said no and kept at it.”
And he added matter-of-factly: “It was over and done in 10 minutes.”
The baby girl has been named Faye and is a healthy eight pounds nine ounces. “The paramedics arrived six or seven minutes after Faye was born and they gave us a checkover and handed me the scissors to cut the cord. they said ‘you’ve done most of it you might as well finish it off’
Wife Mariesa was taken from their home in Carrickmacross, Co Monaghan, to the nearby Our Lady of Lourdes hospital and is now home after the dramatic events.
Ivan’s career as a doctor will be short-lived, however – the Business Manager Europe Organised Leisure Sales will be back at work on Monday. “I’ve taken this week off and back to work on Monday with paternity and annual leave.” And he’ll have plenty to talk about back at the office.
