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When a woman flies pregnant, it's always in the back of her head, lurking somewhere. It's fear. Oh my God, is it possible I could go into labor on the plane? The fact is, 99.999999 percent of the time, obviously, she won't. But one woman who was flying to Georgia from Ghana on an international flight was in the upper 1 percent.
Lucky for her, there was a doctor on board and a quick thinking flight attendant who were able to turn her birth into a healthy experience for everyone.
Flight attendants grabbed gloves, paper towels, and hot towels from business class. There were scissors inside the galley gear bag and everything was sterilized with a paper cup of vodka. When the baby came out, one passenger handed off his shoe strings to tie off the cord. Amazing, right?
It's an inspiring story and one that should make moms a little less scared about labor and delivery. When a baby wants to come, he or she is coming, like it or not. And most of the time, all the fancy instruments and gear we think we need to deliver the baby aren't needed at all.
What matters most is confidence, quick thinking, and mom's strength and ability to hold her baby and nurse him quickly. These aren't things that are only found in a hospital.
Obviously no one would say airplane birth is ideal (right?), but the fact is, birth is about as natural a thing as humans do. We eat, we sleep, we go to the bathroom, we have sex, and we give birth. No one tells us HOW to do all these things. We just do them.
The mom, a first-time mom who was flying alone, must have been terrified, but it's kind of amazing that the passengers all rallied together to bring her son into the world. They applauded for him and all helped this poor mom nobody would have envied in that moment. It says a lot about human nature, too.
As a mom, it makes me feel good to know there are people in the world like this who would come together, think quickly, and help to give my baby a healthy start. Some would say it takes a village, but, in this case, it only took one full airplane en route to Atlanta.
Does this story make you happy, too?
Image via curimedia/Flickr
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