Nurses, doctor help lucky mom who gave birth on flight
by The Associated Press
Last Updated May 3, 2021 at 2:44 am EDT
HONOLULU A doctor and a team of neonatal medical professionals were in the right place at the right time helping a Utah woman deliver her baby onboard an hourslong flight to Hawaii.
Lavinia “Lavi” Mounga was travelling from Salt Lake City to Hawaii on April 28 for a family vacation when she gave birth to her son, Raymond, at just 29 weeks gestation.
Dr. Dale Glenn, a Hawaii Pacific Health family medicine physician, along with Lani Bamfield, Amanda Beeding and Mimi Ho neonatal intensive care unit nurses from North Kansas City Hospital were also on board.
Flight to Hawaii lands with extra passenger on board, thanks to a doctor and 3 nurses
Part of the ordeal was even captured on a viral TikTok. Passengers cheered when the captain announced the birth of a baby boy. Author: Jack Norcross Updated: 9:28 PM CDT May 2, 2021
It was a flight to remember for new mother Lavina Lavi Mounga after delivering a baby on a Delta Air Lines flight from Salt Lake City to Honolulu on Wednesday.
Lucky for her, and new baby Raymond, a doctor and three NICU nurses were aboard the flight to help with delivery.
Dr. Dale Glenn has been asked to treat sick passengers before, but had never experienced anything like this.
Part of the ordeal was even captured and posted to TikTok by a fellow passenger. The viral post, with nearly 11 million views, shows passengers clapping and cheering after the captain announced a child had been born on the flight. It also shows EMTs boarding the plane shortly after landing to help Lavi and her new baby Raymond.
“Everybody’s kind of turning back to see what’s happening, and then there’s a lot of shuffling between flight attendants,” Sierra Rowlan, who was on the flight and appeared with her friend Julia Hansen in the TikTok video, told the Washington Post. “The speaker goes on and off like they’re about to announce something but they don’t. Then there’s a little baby crying.”
“About halfway through the flight, there was an emergency call, and I’ve experienced this before and usually they’re pretty clear asking if there is a doctor on board,” Glenn said in a Hawaii Pacific Health press release. “This call was not like this and it was fairly urgent.”
Bamfield said she heard someone call out for medical help and saw how little the baby was.
All three nurses and the doctor sprung into action. With no special equipment for the preemie, the group got creative: they used shoelaces to cut and tie the umbilical cord and used a smartwatch to measure the baby s heart rate.
Part of the ordeal was even captured and posted to TikTok by a fellow passenger. The viral post, with nearly 11 million views, shows passengers clapping and cheering after the captain announced a child had been born on the flight. It also shows EMTs boarding the plane shortly after landing to help Lavi and her new baby Raymond.
“Everybody’s kind of turning back to see what’s happening, and then there’s a lot of shuffling between flight attendants,” Sierra Rowlan, who was on the flight and appeared with her friend Julia Hansen in the TikTok video, told the Washington Post. “The speaker goes on and off like they’re about to announce something but they don’t. Then there’s a little baby crying.”