Woman gave birth on sledge

Bella Sophia Bonanni, who weighs weighs 7 lb. 9 oz, was born on a sledge following a snowstorm in Philadephia's Roxborough neighbourhood at around 6am on Wednesday morning. "I woke up with contractions, they were about 10 minutes apart. So, we thought we had plenty of time to go to the hospital," recalled mother Shirley Kim Bonanni.



Fabian Bonnani called his parents to come watch 2-year-old Logan and got the family car as far up Cinnamon Drive as he could. He even had a backup plan in case Shirley couldn't walk from their house. "It seemed like it was walkable to the car. But I had the sledges just in case it was super-slippery, because we had that ice storm like a week or two ago," Fabian said.

By the time Shirley showered and her in-laws arrived, the contractions were too quick and too strong for her to walk. So Fabian put her in the sledge and tried to slide her down to the car. But Bella wouldn't wait. Neighbour George Leader saw the commotion outside, heard Shirley yelling, and called 911. "I was on the phone with 911, talking him through it and he certainly delivered his own baby, right there, on the side of the road," Leader said.



Fabian ran the baby - wrapped in blankets back up to their house. The new Grandma and Grandpa - who'd watched the birth - helped George and his roommate carry Shirley, still on the sledge, into their house to keep warm. Eventually, EMTs made it up the hill to care for both mother and baby and transported them to the hospital. Baby and mother are both doing fine and expected to go home in a couple of days.

With news video.