‘Aussie’ baby born to unaware mother in middle of Florida hurricane, leaving family stranded

A NSW woman has given birth to a surprise baby while holidaying in Florida, as a deadly hurricane raged around them.

A New South Wales woman has given birth to a baby she did not know she was carrying, in the middle of the massive deadly hurricane which hit Florida this week.

Dayna Sly and her fiancee Tony O’Keefe are now parents, but face a bureaucratic nightmare to get their baby home to Australia.

The couple were in the US to visit Walt Disney World Resort when Ms Sly unexpectedly gave birth. The baby is safe and well.

Dayna Sly and daughter Audrey. Picture: Facebook

“She’s really well. I can’t believe how well she’s doing considering some of the stuff mum was doing, like going on rides and going on a plane at 41 weeks pregnant,” Ms Sly told Weekend Today.

“I had absolutely no idea and really no symptoms. It was very shocking about two days ago at 5am during the hurricane.”

NewsWire has contacted the couple for comment.

“I’ve wanted to go to Disney for such a long time and go to America,” Ms Sly told Channel 9.

“We’d saved up to (go) and then all of a sudden I’m in the middle of a hurricane at a hotel and I’ve given birth.”

Ms Sly explained she had issues when she got off the contraceptive pill, and doctors were “convinced” she had polycystic ovary syndrome.

The New South Wales welcomes their daughter to the world about 15 hours before Florida was hit by the hurricane. Picture: Facebook

Some slight bloating was explained as a normal symptom of coming off the pill following 12 years of use.

The new mother said she had no noticeable baby bump when she was pregnant, nor morning sickness.

“I did have what I thought were periods, but I don’t think they were obviously now,” she said.

“I didn’t even look pregnant, let alone 41 weeks pregnant.

Ms Sly was feeling some pain, she went into labour and that’s when she learnt she was pregnant, she explained. Paramedics arrived quickly, but Ms Sly gave birth before they reached the hospital.

“There were no signs, whatsoever,” Mr O’Keefe said.

About 40 hours after the hurricane hit, this man was rescued by the Coast Guard, clinging to an esky and wearing a life jacket. He is a fisherman who went back out to sea to repair a broken boat before the storm hit. Picture: US Coast Guard / AFP

Travel insurance will cover the medical bills, the couple says, but their daughter now has a US birth certificate.

They have applied for the baby to get Australian citizenship. Less than 48 hours after giving birth, the couple have been advised by Australian government officials the citizenship process could take anywhere from two to seven months.

“We’re Australian citizens, we don’t have that sort of balance, or funds, to live here for almost a year,” they said.

“We’re Australian. We would love to go back to Australia.”

The couple were in the US to visit Walt Disney World Resort when Ms Sly unexpectedly gave birth. The baby is safe and well. Picture: Weekend Today

Ms Sly is a primary and early childhood teacher.

“I’ve got to get home and we don’t know if they’re going to let us home or if we can even get home in the near future,” she said.

“They haven’t guaranteed her citizenship. They just asked us to pay $360 and they’ll ‘get back to us’ when they can if they grant her citizenship,” Mr O’Keefe said.

Hurricane Milton hit Florida on the southwest coast Wednesday night local time. At least 17 people have died as flooding inundated huge areas of the low-lying state. More than 2.2 million homes and business lost power, many of which are still without electricity days later.

Orange County Fire Rescue Department workers helping people in the early hours of Thursday. Picture: Orange County Fire Rescue Department / AP

The hurricane bore across Florida toward Orlando - where the Australian couple were - about 180kms northeast of the landfall point.

The couple were inside the Orlando hotel as a category 2 hurricane warning was in place, and 28 tornadoes were in the wider area. The baby was born about 15 hours before the hurricane hit the mainland.

The county which Orlando sits in dodged widespread power outages, with about 5 per cent of connections knocked out. Two-thirds of homes and businesses lost power where the hurricane made landfall, and 20 per cent of the counties neighbouring Orlando lost power.

The hurricane created several giant sinkholes across Florida. Picture: Supplied

Originally published as ‘Aussie’ baby born to unaware mother in middle of Florida hurricane, leaving family stranded