He went from counterterrorism to diaper duty.
An elite NYPD officer assigned to Times Square on New Year’s Eve was pulled from his post when his wife went into labor Thursday afternoon.
John Hidalgo and wife Vanessa Felix-Hidalgo, also a city cop, soon welcomed 6-pound Ryan Hidalgo into the world at 12:10 a.m. yesterday — making him one the first babies of 2010.
Hidalgo, 34, was in a high-level security meeting Thursday preparing for a night working security in Times Square when his wife tried to reach him on his cellphone.
At first, he ignored the calls, but when she texted him the news that their baby was on the way — three weeks early — Hidalgo’s New Year’s Eve routine was turned on its ear.
“My boss was like, ‘What are you still doing here?’ ” said Hidalgo, who works in Manhattan’s 13th Precinct near Gramercy Park.
Hidalgo rushed to Nyack Hospital in Rockland County to meet his wife, who was driven there by her mother.
“I’m glad I went — I thought it was a false alarm, and for a minute I was going to stay, but then I changed my mind,” said the proud papa.
The new mom, 29, who works in Manhattan’s 9th Precinct in Alphabet City, said she started experiencing labor pains at around 3 p.m. Thursday.
“We didn’t know if he was going to be a New Year’s Eve baby or a New Year’s Day baby,” Felix-Hidalgo said.
Her husband said, “She was hoping the baby would come before midnight, because of the excruciating pain.”
Little Ryan wasn’t scheduled to appear so early, but he emerged happy and healthy, Felix-Hidalgo said.
“He’s great. He doesn’t cry that much — he just eats,” said the tired but happy mother. “I’m very grateful he turned out healthy.”
Lenox Hill Hospital won the annual race to claim the Big Apple’s first baby of the new year.
Marquita Fladger, 34, and Michael Rogers, 37 — who met on New Year’s Eve two years ago — named their daughter Thyme after she was born at exactly midnight.