Giving birth on a plane doesn’t happen very often, usually just once every couple of years. So how surprising is it that another baby was born on a plane, less than 3 weeks after the most recent baby was born on one!
In late September, we wrote that a baby boy had been born to an EgyptAir passenger on September 17, during a flight from Cairo to London.
Fast forward less than 3 weeks and now a baby was born to a woman on an Indigo flight. The little boy was born prematurely on October 7, when his mother was on flight #6E122 from Delhi to Bangalore.
Twitter from Nagarjun Dwarakanath, a South African commercial pilot & Special Correspondent from India Today TV:
A baby boy was born on board Indigo flight from Delhi to Bangalore today. In all likely baby is getting life long free @IndiGo6E free ticket. Great work by Indigo crew today. Kudos to the team @IndiaToday pic.twitter.com/mxn16dgigf
— Nagarjun Dwarakanath (@nagarjund) October 7, 2020
According to India’s News18, the mother, a woman named Monica, was in her mid-30 and was about 32 weeks pregnant. About 15 minutes after takeoff, she told the cabin crew that she was feeling pain. A plastic surgeon on board examined her and suspected she had indigestion and acidity.
Monica was still feeling very uncomfortable, so she walked to the lavatory. A few minutes later, the cabin crew starting asking if there was a medical doctor available on the flight. That was when gynecologist and obstetric surgeon, Dr Sailaja Vallabhaneni, became involved.
Around halfway through the flight, the woman’s water broke.
Said Dr. Vallabhaneni: “I knew she was going to deliver. I sanitized myself, wore the gloves, PPE kit and started the delivery process. Monica was seated on the toilet seat and started pushing. The head had popped out and I pressed her abdomen and within some time, the baby was delivered. A prematurely born baby boy, weighing about 1.82 kgs.”
A typical preemie would need special care as soon as he was born. But since his birthplace was “somewhere over Bhopal,” Dr. Vallabhaneni did the best she could with what was available on the plane. If nothing else, there were plenty of gloves and PPE kits, thanks to COVID-19.
Dr. Vallabhaneni did mention that all aircraft should be equipped with basic maternity kits.
The mother and baby are doing well. Go to this page of the Bangalore Mirror to read Dr. Vallabhaneni’s account of what happened.
Feature Photo: Kottakkalnet / Wikimedia
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This post first appeared on Your Mileage May Vary
