Please buckle up, make sure your tray table is in the upright and locked position, and prepare for delivery.
A passenger on a Delta Air Lines flight from Atlanta gave birth to a healthy 5 1/2-pound girl Friday night before the Boeing 737 landed at Portland International Airport in Oregon. Two paramedics who happened to be on the plane helped, borrowing blankets from other passengers and tying the umbilical cord with shoelaces.
Baby Brielle Renee Blair was born two weeks earlier than planned. By plane, about 20 minutes.
Her mother, Ashley Blair, who is from Tennessee, was flying to Oregon to give birth with her own mother, but the birth failed. She gave birth about a half-hour outside of Portland.
One of the caregivers, Tina Fritz, told The Associated Press on Monday that she and another caregiver, Kaarin Powell, were returning home from a vacation in the Dominican Republic. They were helping a nurse tend to the medical needs of another passenger in the back of the plane when a flight attendant asked them to check on Blair.
They discovered that Blair was indeed in labor and that contractions were coming. It was a full flight, with 153 passengers on board (soon to be 154), so they started moving the passengers next to Blair back into their seats to make room for the transfer.
They asked flight attendants for blankets and a maternity kit, a set of sterile medical tools used for emergency deliveries. Fritz said when neither was available, they had to improvise.
They received blankets from other passengers and a small piece of money from the flight attendant to tie the umbilical cord. Powell tore off one of his shoelaces, used it as a tourniquet, and started an IV.
Then, Fritz recalled, the mother yelled, “Okay, it’s time. I have to push.”
As she did so, the flight attendant told Fritz and Powell that they needed to sit down because the plane was about to land.
“Our reaction was, ‘No! No!'” she said.
Fritz said Blair gave three “really, really good pushes and the baby came out pretty quickly.” “That’s good.”
Powell cut the umbilical cord and sat down with the baby in his arms. Fritz sat next to her and the wheels hit the track.
“The baby blushed immediately,” Fritz said. “She was beautiful. Mom was a rock star.”
As the plane began taxiing to the gate, they handed the baby over to Blair and everyone took photos to celebrate.
Portland Airport Fire Rescue personnel “found the mother and baby healthy and the new family was transported to a local hospital for observation,” Port of Portland spokesperson Molly Prescott said in an email to The Associated Press.
Delta said in a statement that a doctor and two nurses assisted flight attendants, but Fritz said there was no doctor and the only nurse remained with the first sick passenger. Delta did not immediately respond to an email seeking clarification.
“We extend our sincere gratitude to the flight crew and medical volunteers who provided care to the passengers on board prior to arrival in Portland,” Delta said in a statement. “The health and safety of our passengers is always our top priority and we wish the new family the best.”
Blair did not respond to messages from The Associated Press. Fritz, who has been in contact with Blair since his birth, said she felt a little overwhelmed by all the attention.
“I feel like we’re friends forever now,” Fritz said.
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