The Delta Air Lines flight landed at Portland International Airport, Oregon, after an in-flight delivery that unfolded in the final moments before the Boeing 737 touched down, according to the Associated Press. The passenger who gave birth, Ashley Blair, was flying from Tennessee to Oregon to be with her own mother for the birth, but she went into labor sooner than expected.
Tina Fritz and Kaarin Powell, both paramedics returning home after vacationing in the Dominican Republic, were among the passengers who were asked to help. Fritz told the Associated Press that they had been assisting a nurse with the medical needs of another passenger toward the back of the plane when a flight attendant asked them to check on Blair.
Fritz said they found Blair was indeed in labor and that contractions were getting close. She said the flight was full with 153 passengers aboard, and the situation required shifting people around the mother’s area to create space for the delivery. According to Fritz, the paramedics began moving passengers next to Blair back to their seats so attendants could make room.
Fritz said they asked flight attendants for blankets and an obstetrical kit, described as a sterile set of medical tools used in emergency childbirth, but that neither was available. In place of those items, Fritz said they borrowed blankets from other passengers and used a shoestring from a flight attendant to tie off the umbilical cord.
Fritz also described improvising for the delivery itself, saying Powell tore out one of her own shoelaces to use as a tourniquet to start an IV. As the mother prepared to push, Fritz said Blair told her, “OK, it’s time. I got to push.” Fritz said Blair then gave three “super, really good pushes,” and the baby came quickly.
Fritz said she cut the umbilical cord while sitting down with the newborn, and that once the plane wheels hit the runway, people began celebrating after the aircraft moved toward the gate. The paramedics handed the baby to Blair once the flight reached the jetway, and the group took photos. Fritz and Powell later described the baby as pinking up right away and said Blair was “a rock star.”
After landing, Portland Airport Fire & Rescue found the mother and baby healthy, and transported them to a local hospital for observation, Port of Portland spokesperson Molly Prescott said in an email to the Associated Press. Delta, in a statement, said a doctor and two nurses assisted flight attendants during the incident, while Fritz said there was no doctor and that the only nurse stayed with a first ailing passenger.
Fritz said Blair, who named the baby Brielle Renee Blair, did not respond to messages from the Associated Press. Fritz said she has kept in touch with Blair since the birth and that she has been “a little overwhelmed by all the attention,” adding, “I feel like we’re friends now forever.”