Woman Gives Birth on Plane From South Africa, Baby Delivered in 'Two Pushes'
A young woman traveling from South Africa to New York to see relatives gave birth to her son only a few hours after the plane took off.
Fatawmatt Kaba, 17, was on board a South African Airways flight from Johannesburg en route to JFK International airport in New York, when she, much to the surprise of her fellow passengers, went into labor a few hours into the flight.
The flight crew immediately notified the pilot, who considered diverting the aircraft due to the medical emergency, but decided ask over the plane's loudspeakers if there were any doctors on board.
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As luck would have it, there were two doctors, one nurse and a pediatric anesthesiologist named Julie Williamson, who was returning from a medical conference in South Africa.
"It was exhilarating. 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 told the Daily News.
Members of the flight crew wrapped the baby in blankets, who was given the name Mamel Joella, and then took turns looking after the newborn after his mother returned to her seat to rest. Other passengers on the plane were surprised that the young mother was able to deliver her child with minimal commotion.
"I didn't think stuff like that really happened in real life. I thought it was something that happened in TV and movies," Jamahl Winter, a passenger on the flight, told the Daily News.
Kaba and her newborn child were taken to Jamaica Medical Center in New York after the plane arrived.
Kaba revealed that she was on her way to visit family members and is happy she will be able to show everyone her new addition, but the child will not be an American citizen since the child was born outside United States airspace.
