A Woman Who Didn’t Know She Was Pregnant Gave Birth 30,000 Ft In The Air On A Flight To Hawaii
Lavinia Mounga definitely didn’t know she was pregnant. If she had, she likely would not have embarked on a flight from Salt Lake City to Honolulu whereupon she would have given birth at 30,000ft.
Mounga was on a flight from Hawaii with her family last week when she started to have contractions.
The incredible in-flight labor was captured in a viral video TikTok video and showed Mounga giving birth mid-way through the six-hour flight.
Fortunately, three neonatal intensive care unit nurses were present on the flight. There was also a physician’s assistant and a family doctor who helped deliver the baby in the plane bathroom.
When the plane landed in Honolulu an emergency medical service crew transported the baby and the new mother to hospital. The baby boy was named Raymond Kaimana Wade Kobe Lavaki Mounga, and is being described as “miracle” by family.
Because he was born premature at just 26 or 27 weeks, Raymond remains in the hospital.
Dale Glenn, a family physician helped the nurses to keep the newborn safe.
“None of the equipment we have was suitable for a premature baby, and this baby was born at 29 weeks instead of the normal 40 weeks, right?” Dr. Glenn explained in an recent interview with KHON2. “So we made baby warmers out of bottles that were microwaved. We used an Apple Watch to measure the heart rate.”
“I don’t know if the public really realizes that actually some women just don’t know they’re pregnant, and especially early in the pregnancy where the baby isn’t very large, and a woman has a history of irregular menstrual cycles,” Dr. Glenn went onto explain. “They are some women who just don’t realize they’re carrying something. So when this patient got on the plane, she honestly did not know she was pregnant.”
About giving birth, Mounga tweeted “Overwhelmed in the best ways.”
A passenger on the flight shared footage of the moment the flight’s cabin found out about the birth mid-flight and burst into applause.
Julia Hansen was traveling with her friend on the flight Thursday and was seated next to Mounga’s father who said his daughter had no idea she was pregnant.
Hansen’s TikTok video, which has garnered over one million views, showed a cabin crew manager announcing “As most of you have probably heard, we just had a child birth on the aircraft, let’s have a nice round of applause for the mother. Congratulations.”
The passengers could be seen and heard clapping and cheering for the new mother.
