A woman has given birth during an international flight with the assistance of a holidaying Australian doctor.  The grateful Brazillian woman, known as Aline, is reported to have been complaining of back pain during the flight.

Aline, 26, began having contractions midflight before her waters broke.  By this time cabin crew had enlisted Dr Jenny Cook, after checking boarding passes for a doctors name.  Aline it is reported was “adamant she was not pregnant”.

Complicating the situation was a breech presentation - where the baby is positioned feet first.  The pilot suggested he would have got a speeding fine had there “been cameras in the air” as he tried to make an emergency landing on Easter Island.  However mother and baby could not wait this long and the delivery took place near the toilet and food preparation area.

Baby Barbara was guided into the world without a hitch - luckily for all aboard as Dr Cook had only a basic first aid kit and an oxygen mask to help her. 

According to Dr Cook ”I didn’t know what was going to happen, if the baby was going to breathe, if the mother was going to bleed.”

“And if I had to make any cuts to get the baby out, were they going to give me a plastic knife?”

This entry was posted on Saturday, May 26th, 2007 at 4:24 pm and is filed under Pregnancy. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.