Weirdest Story Ever -- Phi Phis and Friends

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Date Posted: 10:36:38 08/06/03 Wed
Author: Valerie
Subject: Weirdest Story Ever

This article was in the Boston Globe & my friend in Boston confirmed it . . .

> >The Boston Globe
> >
> >July 31, 2003
> >
> >REFUSING HELP, WOMAN GIVES BIRTH ABOARD T
> >
> > Author:
> > C. Kalimah Redd, Globe Correspondent, and Mac
> Daniel, Globe
> > Staff
> >
> >Edition: THIRD
> >Section: Metro/Region
> >Page: A1
> >
> >Index Terms:
> >FAN
> >
> >Estimated printed pages: 4
> >
> >Article Text:
> >A 42-year-old Braintree woman gave birth to a baby
> boy while standing on an
> >inbound Red Line train yesterday morning, refusing
> help from stunned
> >passengers who heard her moan and seconds later
> looked down to find her
> >baby on the floor.
> >
> > Witnesses told police that Joyce M. Judge, a
> former nurse who later said
> >she was on the way to a Boston hospital, kept
> quietly refusing help during
> >and after the delivery.
> >
> >" `Thanks for your concern, we're OK,' " she said,
> according to Chris Chin
> >of Duxbury. Standing 4 feet away from Judge, Chin
> said, he saw her tie the
> >umbilical cord in a knot and wrap the baby in a
> silk scarf. "She cradled
> >the baby in one arm and grabbed the handrail with
> the other and continued
> >to ride the T and stare out the window."
> >
> > Bill Mahoney, also of Duxbury, watched the scene
> unfold: "It was simply
> >surreal."
> >
> > Transit officials said they received a call from
> the train operator for
> >medical assistance and had an MBTA official waiting
> at the JFK-UMass
> >station on the platform when the train arrived. But
> Judge refused help and
> >sprinted up a flight of stairs toward the
> turnstiles, MBTA Lieutenant Gary
> >Fredericks said. She then grabbed some newspaper to
> wrap up the baby, ran
> >across the platform toward Morrissey Boulevard, and
> hustled up another
> >flight of stairs to the Columbia Road overpass.
> >
> > MBTA police intercepted her and took the baby
> boy, who was breathing and
> >kicking but not crying. As two officers examined
> the baby in the front seat
> >of a police SUV, Fredericks said, Judge pounded on
> their backs and
> >screamed: "Let me see!"
> >
> > Mother and child were doing fine yesterday at
> Boston Medical Center,
> >authorities said. Officials from the state
> Department of Social Services
> >are investigating.
> >
> > Clutching the faded pink and beige silk scarf,
> Judge sat in her hospital
> >bed and told a reporter how she woke up at about
> 5:15 a.m. yesterday and
> >began vomiting. She decided to go to St.
> Elizabeth's Hospital in Brighton
> >and left her two other children, ages 15 and 11, at
> the Motel 6 in
> >Braintree, where the family has been living for the
> past year.
> >
> > But once she was on the train in North Quincy,
> she felt the baby coming.
> >"It wasn't too painful, it happened so fast," Judge
> said. "The contractions
> >were from 1 to 2 minutes apart. I said, `Let me get
> off this train.' "
> >
> > People, she said, started screaming. When asked
> why she refused help from
> >other passengers, Judge said: "They couldn't do
> anything on the train so I
> >thought it was better to get to the hospital."
> >
> > Passengers, many of whom responded to a
> Boston.com announcement seeking
> >witnesses and were then contacted by phone, said
> they were startled by the
> >chain of events.
> >
> > After the train left North Quincy, while crossing
> the Neponset River
> >around 7:20 a.m., passengers reported hearing a
> muffled groan. Judge,
> >dressed in a pink velour top and matching skirt,
> stood in the middle of the
> >fourth car. Suddenly, her water broke.
> >
> > "At first I thought someone spilled coffee, but
> it kept dripping," said
> >Chin, 32. "But she stood staring out the window . .
> . I started doubting
> >what I saw."
> >
> > About 90 seconds later, Chin said, "I saw a head,
> then full baby fall out
> >from her skirt, hit the floor sideways and slide
> the length of the doorway,
> >stopping when he bumped up against the next row of
> seats. Still she stared
> >out the window. Either she didn't know it happened
> or didn't want to
> >acknowledge it."
> >
> > Judge bent down, picked up the baby and wrapped
> it in her scarf, Chin
> >said.
> >
> > As passengers slowly realized what had happened,
> witnesses said, the
> >train rallied around the new mother. People offered
> sweaters and implored
> >her to sit or lie down. Still, Judge refused.
> >
> > "I'm fine," she repeated throughout the trip.
> "I'm fine."
> >
> > With the JFK-UMass stop still three minutes away,
> passengers, some of
> >whom vomited in the wake of the bloody birth,
> inundated State Police with
> >cell phone calls. Dispatchers told passengers to
> ask Judge if she had
> >passed the placenta. Passengers yelled back that
> she had not. Dispatchers
> >asked if the baby was breathing. Others yelled back
> that they weren't sure.
> >
> > At one point, Judge took some nearby newspapers
> and placed them on the
> >floor to soak up the blood. Some witnesses heard
> Judge apologize for the
> >mess.
> >
> > After leaving the train and heading for the
> stairs up to the station's
> >main lobby, witnesses said, the placenta fell to
> the platform. Judge turned
> >around, grabbed the afterbirth, put it in her
> shoulder bag, and headed
> >upstairs.
> >
> > "She just literally picked it up with her hand
> and put it in some kind of
> >bag she was carrying, and this was in mid-stride .
> . . It was the craziest
> >thing I've ever seen," said Robert Busby, of
> Weymouth.
> >
> > Lisa Judge of Rhode Island, who visited her
> sister yesterday, said Joyce
> >Judge didn't realize how dilated she was. "She said
> she thought she could
> >make it" to the hospital, Lisa Judge said.
> >
> > Lisa Judge said she has taken in her sister's
> children at times when she
> >has had "spells, she would turn inward and wouldn't
> talk to anybody."
> >
> > Marie Judge of Roxbury, said her daughter seemed
> stressed recently and
> >admitted she was pregnant only when Marie Judge
> confronted her a month ago.
> >
> > DSS, which has no record of any prior contact
> with the family, placed
> >Judge's two other children in temporary custody
> yesterday. Denise Monteiro,
> >a DSS spokeswoman, said the baby will not be
> released to Judge, who said
> >she works for Boston Public Schools in food and
> nutritional services,
> >unless the agency is convinced she can care for the
> child. The hospital is
> >conducting a psychiatric evaluation of Judge,
> Monteiro said.
> >
> > "We're trying to find out what prompted this
> behavior," she said. "It
> >makes us concerned about her and it makes us
> concerned about her baby."
> >
> >Caption:
> >Joyce M. Judge said she was en route to St.
> Elizabeth's Hospital.PHOTO
> >MAP
> >
> >Memo:Michael Rosenwald and Farah Stockman of the
> Globe staff contributed to
> >this report.Copyright (c) 2003 Globe Newspaper
> Company
> >Record Number: 0307310170

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