Baby Born Onboard Flight KU411
Last October, I went with my mom to the Philippines to visit family and friends. We took the Kuwait Airways flight which left Bangkok at around noon. There were only a few passengers onboard that particular flight, mostly OFW (Overseas Filipino Workers) from Kuwait going back home for the 'All Souls Day'. My mom and I were both prepared to take a short nap, hoping that by the time the stewardess served food we would be refreshed. Just as soon as the plane took off, I noticed some commotion over at the front, just around 10 rows away from where we were seated. A cabin crew -- later we learned he was the purser -- seemed troubled. He went back and forth between the cockpit and the passenger. I sensed that something seriously wrong must be happening over there.
Just minutes after the plane was steady and the 'fasten seatbelts' light went off, the captain announced for any physicians onboard. When I looked around and saw that no one did anything, I turned to my mom who was half asleep. She practiced nursing years ago before she switched to teaching kindergarten kids English. If there weren't any doctors onboard, then my mom could at least dig up the theories and skills from the rusty parts of her memory and put it to good use. My mom got up and went over to the passenger, informing the cabin crew that she was a nurse and asked if there is anything she could do to help. It turned out that a pregnant 23-year-old woman was in labor!!
Four nurses and a pharmacist showed up and volunteered to help the woman deliver her baby. Cabin crew are trained for this kind of emergency, but of course they could never beat the professionals. For over 2 hours, the woman was in labor. The five Samaritans gathered around her the whole time, trying to calm her and to help her go through the pain. She didn't scream, but her face expressed very clearly what she was going through. It must have felt embarrassing to travel alone, and have a bunch of strangers around you in such a private moment.
There is a reason why she was traveling alone, and why she had to lie to the airline company that she was 7 months pregnant (when it was actually 9 months), but I'll leave it out since it is a private matter.
Should we turn back to Bangkok? Should we go ahead to Manila? Call the ambulance for standby at the Manila airport!! Where's the first aid kit? Do we have sterilized gloves? Blankets! More blankets! The curtain! Close it! Tell the captain everything is fine and nothing is there to worry about. You hold the oxygen tank and the mask! Temperature! Monitor it! Heart rate! Blood pressure! Monitor everything! Who's keeping the log? We need something to clamp the umbilical cord with!! Panic, excitement, fear, worry...
I was worried too. My mom told me to come up with a name for the baby, and so the thinking process kind of calmed me down a bit. I thought 'airplane' and 'Bangkok' and 'Manila'. Finally, I ended up with Jethaphil which stands for 'born on a jet flying from Thailand to the Philippines'. Cool huh?
When flying in lower altitude, the air pressure in the cabin changes. As the plane descended, the baby started to come. My mom said the change in air pressure allowed the woman to push more. The ad hoc medical team assisted the delivery very efficiently. They improvised and used what was available at that time. The cabin crew was also very cooperative, but I could understand that some were afraid of blood and all that 'stuff'. It took only a short while. Although very curious of what was happening at that part of the aircraft, all the passengers were in their seats. It seemed like everyone was silently praying for a safe delivery.
'It's a boy!' I announced to the passengers. Everyone applauded and shouted praises to the Heavens. The time was 15.47 hrs Manila LT, somewhere above the South China Sea.
I asked the woman's permission to take some pictures, and she said it was okay... So here it is!
