Carpenter Helps Deliver Christmas Eve Baby

Ignacio Garcia was scheduled to enter the world on Christmas Day, but this was a baby with his own ideas.

His mother, 25-year-old Jessica Garcia, told the Chicago Sun-Times that she first went to Lincoln Park's St. Joseph Hospital on Christmas Eve after going into labor, but was sent home because she wasn't far enough along.

She started experiencing heavy contractions after leaving the hospital, so her husband Jamie, hurried her back.

But they didn't make it inside. The baby's head started poking out as they approached the front entrance.

Hospital carpenter Ilie Elijah Popa noticed the frantic scene and rushed to help out. Ignacio was born right there oustide the hospital -- inside his mother's pant leg.

Both men carried mother and child inside where hospital staff cared for the newborn.

Popa met the family Thursday night and may have earned himself some new kin -- he's apparently in the running to be the boy's godfather, the Sun-Times reports.