Kids & Family
Beau Sets Up Mock Baby Delivery On UWS To Propose To Nurse
A couple in love, a woman pretending to give birth, the FDNY, Five Guys burgers, an UWS street and one heck of a marriage proposal.
![An image of Matthews getting down on one knee as Amy tended to a woman she thought was giving birth.](https://patch.com/img/cdn20/users/23306266/20210421/040744/styles/patch_image/public/screen-shot-2021-04-21-at-40538-pm___21160623997.png)
UPPER WEST SIDE, NY — A couple in love, a pregnant woman pretending to give birth, the New York City Fire Department, Five Guys burgers and a Broadway backdrop all made for an unforgettable proposal.
Upper West Sider Mike Matthews knew he wanted to do something special for his proposal to his girlfriend Amy.
The couple was already on the same page about getting married – they had an engagement photoshoot planned for Friday and they're having a wedding in Central Park on May 6 — but the formal proposal and ring on the finger hadn't happened yet.
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Amy is a nurse who supervises hundreds more at a local hospital. However, Matthews told Patch that a longstanding talking point between them is that she's never had to jump into action on the street.
"She always walks around New York City, and she's never had a medical emergency happen on the street, at a restaurant, someone getting hit on their bike, where she has to run up and help them, which she would know what to do," he said.
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"Whereas I see things and I don't know what to do. It always blows my mind. Like how has that not happened to you yet? So that was the premise."
With this in mind, Mike devised a plan for the pair to stumble upon an emergency and, at the height of the drama, drop to one knee.
Matthews knew he needed a little help to make the "emergency situation" as believable as possible.
The husband to be walked into the NYPD Precinct and FDNY Fire Station on 100th Street between Amsterdam and Columbus, explained the situation and asked if any members would be able to help set up a mock scene involving an actually pregnant friend in disguise pretending to have her baby in the middle of a street.
"I literally just knocked on the door and explained what I wanted to do," Matthews said. "One of the FDNY firemen's mother was a nurse for 30 years so he had a sort of sweet spot for it."
Both the NYPD and FDNY said they would come help the spoof emergency – so long as there wasn't a real one in the area they had to attend to, according to Matthews.
The marriage proposal stage was set for 10:30 a.m. April 16 at 108th Street and Broadway.
To make the situation even more believable, Matthews showed Amy a fake Citizen report of the incident when they were a block away.
The NYPD ended up not being able to come because of a real incident, but the FDNY was in attendance. The FDNY told Patch that the fire unit was on scene but did not receive any calls during the period.
Amy immediately jumped into action thinking the woman was actually giving birth — FDNY members stood around her — and Matthews dropped to one knee.
Here's the video:
She said yes! But only after hurling rubber gloves at her husband-to-be.
"As you can see in the video, she goes into full nurse mode," Matthews told Patch when asked about how sure he was Amy would hop into action. "So I'm like, 'okay, she thinks this is real, and she's going to do this thing, she doesn't care about her nails, her makeup, anything anymore."
The couple was on their way to the engagement photoshoot at the time.
Matthews bought each of the 13 FDNY members who showed up to the fake emergency marriage proposal scene a double patty burger and fries from Five Guys.
If that wasn't enough, Matthews also got Tan France from the popular show "Queer Eye" to record a video message for Amy — which you can also watch on Matthew's Instagram page.
ILoveTheUpperWestSide was the first publication to report on the proposal.
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