Woman Unexpectedly Goes Into Labor Mid Air - Strangers Help Deliver Baby

Medical staff who happened to be trained to work with premature babies reacted quickly, managing to deliver a baby on board of a Delta Airlines flight from Salt Lake City to Honolulu.

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Baby (soon to be) on board

When Lavinia Mounga stepped onto her flight, she had no clue that she was around 29 weeks pregnant. In fact, right before she boarded, she tweeted, "Hey let's getawaaaaaaaaay."

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But Mounga started having contractions and her baby was ready to come out immediately.

Delta Airlines staff proceeded to ask passengers if there was medical staff on board and, remarkably, not only was there a doctor, but there were also three nurses trained in premature deliveries and a physician assistant on board.

"I don't know how a patient gets so lucky as to have three neonatal intensive care nurses on board the same flight when she is emergency labor, but that is the situation we were in," said the doctor who delivered the baby, Dr. Dale Glenn, to KHON2 News. "We made baby warmers out of bottles that were microwaved. We used an Apple Watch to measure the heart rate."

Incredibly, the medical staff managed to do the delivery, and Mounga and Raymond Kaimana Wade Kobe Lavaki Mounga were brought to a hospital in Honolulu.

"If they weren't there, I don't think he would be here," the mother said. "So I'm very blessed."

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A very proud dad

A video of the scene in the airplane shared on TikTok was all the baby's father, Ethan Magalei, could see of his firstborn's delivery, and it had him oozing with pride.

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"Life. It’s a crazy thing," Magalei wrote on Facebook. "I’m nervous, scared, anxious, excited, shocked all out into one...The year 2021 has been a struggle for me personally and I’ve been having a hard time even being the best for myself and being there for myself.. but now it’s not about me, it’s about baby boy now and that is a blessing."

Magalei also expressed his appreciation for the medical staff on board. "Thank you doesn’t do justice of how grateful I am for God putting you all on that flight to be there for Lavi, her family, and our son. I have no words to express my gratitude besides thank you. I am forever grateful."

He also thanked his beloved partner. "Thank you for being there for me and being there physically with our son. Our son is blessed to have you as a mother and to receive the love from you that I know you will show unconditionally, it’s who you are and he is so blessed to have that."

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Luck and heroism rolled into one

And here we thought coronavirus was the only thing we had to worry about on a flight. Thankfully, experienced medical staff were on board and baby Raymond was delivered safely.

Unsurprisingly, the mother's tweet after the flight was a very different tone than when she boarded.

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