A Canadian doctor helped a woman deliver her baby in the most unlikely of places: aboard a Qatar Airways flight 35,000 feet above ground. Dr. Anita Khatib explained that she was on a work assignment in Entebbe, Uganda when a woman became pregnant mid-flight. She was then summoned to action.
“I look down and I see this woman lying on the seat with her head towards the aisle and her feet towards the window, and this baby’s coming out,”Khatib shared Inside Edition Digital. “It was not what I was expecting at all.”
Khatib, who specializes in travel medicine, had been on the overnight flight last month when, about an hour after take-off, she heard a message over the intercom system that explained there was a medical emergency and asked if there was a doctor onboard.
At first, believing that a passenger might have had a heart attack she brought herself to the attention of flight attendants. She was then quickly put into action.
“I didn’t know anything about the woman. I didn’t know anything about the history. I didn’t know how we got to this point,”She recalled. “So I pretty much jumped right in.”
Two other passengers, a pediatric and an oncology nurse were next to her.
“I’m thinking, ‘We need clamps. We need scissors. If we don’t have clamps, I need shoelaces.’ I’m thinking, ‘I need hot water.’ I’m thinking, ‘Wait, no, I don’t need hot water,’ but they always ask for it in the movies,”Khatib laughed. “All these things are kind of going through my head like, ‘What do I need to make sure we can deliver this baby safely?’”
She explained that there are many possible outcomes in these situations, but the baby was delivered healthy and Khatib notified her that she was also in good health.
The baby’s mom, a migrant worker from Uganda, had not received any prenatal healthcare and had no idea the baby would be coming so soon, Khatib explained. At first, she believed she was sick. However, a flight attendant informed her that she could be in labor.
“After they were stable, we moved them up into the business class area, cleaned them up, had a little bit more space, and were able to get mom latched and breastfeeding and skin-to-skin with baby,”Khatib stated. “We monitored her for the rest of the flight, and the baby, and they did well, which was great.”
Miracle Aisha, the mother’s name for her baby, was even chosen by the doctor who delivered her on the airplane.
“I just happened to have a necklace that had my name on it, which was a little gold necklace said ‘Aisha’ in Arabic, and so of course I had to give her my namesake, so she remembered the doctor that delivered her up in the air, 35,000 feet, while flying over the Nile,”She said.
Khatib said she and Miracle Aisha’s mom have been in contact since, and she is happy to announce that the pair are still doing well.