During a transatlantic trip, a passenger gave birth at 30,000 feet. Despite having till the end of the month, the new mother unexpectedly gave birth on Sunday during an 11-hour journey on United Airlines from Accra, Ghana to Washington, DC. The boy was delivered in business class by a team that included a nurse, a crew member with medical training, and Dr. Stephen Ansah-Addo, who was traveling back to the US.
But, because midwives momentarily lack clamps, they must use a cord to cut the umbilical chord. Deliveries, according to the airline, were “unstable.” At Dulles International Airport, where the airplane had just landed, paramedics were ready to transport the drained mother and child to a nearby hospital.
The airline also arranged for a representative from Team United at Washington Dulles to greet the woman with a balloon and a note saying “Congratulations on your kid!” When the crew requested a doctor, Dr. Ansah-Addo, a dermatology resident at the University of Michigan, responded.
He said to ABC News: “The fact that it was happening baffled me. Yet I made an effort to remain composed. As no one else is present, this is the individual who most urgently needs assistance. The medicine that is irrelevant is this one. You have the power to influence people’s lives.”
In an interview with NBC News Now, traveler Nancy Adobea Anane said: “We knew there was a woman behind us in an accident. The pilot said that someone needs help, so if there are any medical personnel on board, they should come and assist us. They converted the area just behind the business class into a sort of operating room, and one of them exclaimed, “Oh, I can see the head!” They were incredibly happy.
”Then the baby was born and he started crying and we were all so excited. The mother was fine and she was able to see the baby. This is my first time on a United Airlines flight and believe me, it was a wonderful and enjoyable experience,” she added.
Blogger Zhikay Ikejunior was also present and posted photos of the aftermath of the delivery on Twitter.
He wrote: “A Ghanaian doctor practicing in the United States of America is a hero of his time.”
