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Born To Fly: Woman Gives Birth On Flight From South Africa To NYC
By
Ben Yakas
Published Mar 10, 2013
Modified Mar 10, 2013
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via passenger R Jamahl Winters's Facebook
By
Ben Yakas
Published Mar 10, 2013
Modified Mar 10, 2013
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A lot of parents resort to telling their kids that babies were carried in the sky by storks—one day when Fatawmatt Kaba sits her son down to teach him about the birds and the bees, it won't be much of a stretch to tell him he really did drop out of the sky. Kaba went into labor and delievered a healthy baby boy while on a flight from South Africa to NYC on Saturday. "You could see his little umbilical cord still attached," passenger Jamahl Winters, told the News. "It’s amazing. I didn’t think stuff like that really happened in real life. I thought it was something that happened in TV and movies."
Kaba, of Angola, was four hours into the 16-hour trip from Johannesburg to JFK Airport when she went into labor yesterday; officials say South African Airways Flight 203 was some 38,000 feet over West Africa around 8:30 p.m. when it happened. Officials initially considered diverting the plane, but that wouldn't help the mom-to-be, whose baby was coming one way or another. The pilot asked over the plane’s loudspeaker if there was a doctor on board—and lucky for all involved, there were two and a nurse, including pediatric anesthesiologist Dr. Julie Williamson.
“It was exhilarating,” Williamson, who was returning from a weeklong medical conference in South Africa, told the Daily News. “While there was a lot of discussion whether to divert the flight, she made the decision for us by saying, ‘Push!’ And when we checked, the baby was crowning, and she delivered him in two pushes." Williamson added that she hadn't delivered a baby since medical school 15 years ago. “He nursed right away,” said Williamson. “And she was a very strong woman — never cried, never complained. It was amazing.”
The baby, named Mamel Joella, is resting at Jamaica Medical Center with his mom; because he was born outside of U.S. airspace, he will not be an American citizen. Despite the happy ending, this whole situation is probably why doctors strongly recommend women shouldn't fly late in their pregnancies: you may not have doctors on your flight!
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Ben Yakas
Ben Yakas is a former Gothamist reporter.
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Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
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