Pregnancy is a beautiful thing. Most mothers anticipate the day they get to give birth to their brand new little babes -- going into labor, packing the baby bag, and rushing off to the hospital…. but what if your delivery room was an airplane thousands of feet in the sky? Yep, this passenger was 6 months into her pregnancy and has just boarded my flight in all her pregnant glory.
Once we were in the air she informed me that her doctor recommended not to fly for the rest of her term but unfortunately her grandmother had just passed away and she decided to travel for the funeral. To top it off, this flight had moderate to severe turbulence which was causing her anxiety. Awesome.
I noticed she was breathing heavy and rubbing her belly with a worrying look on her face. I offered food and water to calm her down in hopes that eating would distract her from the whole falling out of the sky thing… as food is an easy distraction for me for most things.
So right now we know she is 6 months pregnant, under doctors orders not to fly, gets anxiety when flying, and what she told me next was definitely a first for me. “I think I’m having contractions.”
Umm ok first thought “this is not ideal”. Luckily I have mastered the flight attendant poker face, an unwritten rule amongst flight attendants consisting of a big smile that never faults even under high pressure situations. I asked a few questions about her health, pregnancy, etc just in case we needed to page for a doctor, then I let the pilots and crew know that we may be delivering a baby on this flight! Now, although we’ve had extensive training in many safety service and medical situations, delivering a baby isn’t one of them!
I almost wish I had a more exciting ending for you guys, but I think the mother-to-be and I can both agree that this was the preferred way to end the flight— no delivery needed and turns out she’s just a very nervous flyer, but those contractions could have been so real. Luckily for us it was only a two hour flight and the baby decided he would wait a little longer. That’s where the excitement ended for me, however, she did have one more flight to her final destination and assuming she will be flying back I am waiting to see a headline that reads “NERVOUS FLYER SELF INDUCED LABOR!”