When little Brielle Renee was born, mom Ashley Blair was over the moon. Literally. The woman, originally from Tennessee, was flying to Portland, Oregon, to give birth near her mother, but she didn’t imagine that the little girl had the intention of speeding up the process.
The emergency at high altitude
The birth, as reported by the US media, took place last Friday on board a Delta Airlines plane carrying 153 passengers, destined to become 154. The labor began half an hour before landing, but fortunately there were two “plainclothes” paramedics on board, Tina Fritz and Kaarin Powell, who were returning home after a holiday in the Dominican Republic.
As Tina explained to the Associated Press, the two doctors were already assisting another passenger who fell ill, when the crew called them urgently for a new emergency, that of Ashley: “As soon as we got to her we immediately realized that she was in labour”. The two women exchanged places with the passengers who were in the pregnant woman’s row and set up the area in the best possible way with what was there, using all the available blankets and a shoelace as a tourniquet for the IV.
Childbirth during landing
The baby was born during the landing phase: “With three pushes she came out – said Tina Fritz -, the baby was born quickly, and immediately turned pink. She was beautiful”. Brielle, two and a half kilos of determination, should have been born in two weeks, but instead she came into the world just as the plane touched down in Oregon. The mother and baby were quickly rescued after landing, as confirmed by Portland airport spokeswoman Molly Prescott: “They found everyone in stable condition when the plane landed just before the scheduled time, around 10 p.m. Our rescue crew boarded the plane and found the mother and baby in good health.”
The happy ending
Mother and daughter were then transferred to the hospital for routine checks, while congratulations on the birth arrived from the Delta company: “We wish you all the best and thank the crew and volunteer doctors who made themselves available in an emergency situation. The health and safety of our customers are always our top priority”. Tina Fritz and Kaarin Powell, who published the photos on social media together with Ashley and little Brielle, said they remained in contact with the new mother after landing: “I think we will now be friends forever”.