Visitor who gave birth prematurely in NYC gets help

NEW YORK CITY (FOX5NY) - A premature baby girl, who weighs only two pounds, is at Mt. Sinai West Medical Center trying to become healthy enough to go home to North Carolina.

Shelcie Holbert of Charlotte wasn't planning on giving birth when she came to New York City in June for a business trip.

She was only 23 weeks pregnant but started feeling contractions.  Eight days later, on June 26, 2018, she gave birth to a girl she named Rosalie.  The baby weighed just 1 pound 9 ounces at birth.

Her husband, Jacob Wallace, an Army veteran who recently returned from Afghanistan, flew in to be by her side in New York City.

"It's one of those things, the first time it happens with a baby and you've never had a baby before and you jsut have a huge mixed bag of emotions," Wallace says.

The costs of staying in Manhattan have become overwhelming for the young couple as they stay to be with their baby in the hospital's neo-natal intensive care unit. 

That's when members of an Upper West Side mom's group stepped in to help.  One of them donated a rental apartment that was temporarily available for the couple to move into for a few weeks.

The group has also set up a GoFundMe page to raise money for the couple, who are looking at many more weeks of having to stay in New York.  Their members have also started a meal train to provide food for the new parents.

The couple, who had never been to New York City before, say they have been overwhelmed by the big hearts of New Yorkers.

"This situation has completely changed my thinking.  I try to see the good in every situation now and the good in the world because of all these people who are helping us," Shelcie Holbert says.

The baby could have to stay in the hospital for months but doctors are optimistic for her future.