One Extra Passenger

“I’m not feeling so well.” Those were the words I heard shortly after takeoff. “Not to worry,” I told the passenger. I was fresh out of flight attendant training. I offered some ginger ale, a cold cloth and some aspirin. I wasn’t quite ready for the response I received. The passenger told me she was in labor! Again, let me stress, I was fresh out of training!

Our flight had started in San Francisco, and I was with a very senior crew. Since I was so new, they gave me the back section of the aircraft. It was like having my own little plane. There were about 70 folks (the plane held 250), and I was responsible for the food and beverages for them. Everyone thought it would be easier for me since I would have a small number of passengers to care for. You know what they say about the best laid plans –

Being 22 years old and not having any children, the “I’m in labor” remark caught me off guard to say the least. My response was, “Hold on just a second.” I went to the interphone and called the cockpit. I remember apologizing for bothering the pilots but said I wanted to let them know we had a woman in labor. The pilots told me not to worry that they would work on getting the plane on the ground. They said we would land long before a baby could be born. That made me feel much better.

By this time, some of my crew members had come back to check on me and learned about the situation. It was decided that since I was the one right out of training, I was the best person to handle the situation. Later, I realized they just didn’t want to possibly deliver a baby!

One funny thing about this situation is that while in flight attendant training, I had actually received instruction in delivering a baby. I remember calling my parents the night of that training and expressing how useless I thought the day had been. When would I ever have to deliver a baby on the plane? Boy was I wrong! In training, I was taught to tell the mom to “pant like a puppy.” As soon as those words were out of my mouth, I realized how strange they must have sounded. The look on the passenger’s face kind of clued me in too.

I assured the passenger that we would be landing before she delivered, but she let me know that this was her fifth child and it was quickly on its way. Our plane then turned into a makeshift delivery room. Blankets were laid on the floor and also hung over seatbacks to give some sort of privacy (yes, there were actually blankets on the plane). Thank goodness, this woman was a pro at delivering babies because she let me and the other flight attendants know what was going on. Before the landing gear was down, we had a brand new passenger – a beautiful little girl. Now, remember I was only 22 and had no experience in this department. Helping to bring this precious little person into the world was amazing. It was also really scary. I am so glad nothing went wrong. It’s not like we could have hopped in the car and driven to the nearest medical facility.

a PA was made announcing the baby’s arrival, and the entire plane erupted in applause. We landed in Colorado and mom, baby and her other five children were escorted off the plane. A few weeks later, I saw this woman on an afternoon talk show. There was not even one mention of her outstanding flight crew turned delivery assistants. No wonder people think all we do is serve Cokes and peanuts!


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