Lavinia Mounga boarded a Delta flight to Honolulu, expecting to have a relaxing family vacation. Hours later, Mounga would land in Hawaii with a newborn baby boy, named Raymond, in her arms. The new mother had no idea she was pregnant and gave birth at just 29 weeks, according to The Associated Press.
On Wednesday, about halfway through the flight from Salt Lake City, a medical emergency was announced by the flight’s captain and four passengers ran to Mounga’s aid. Hawaii Pacific Health family m.edicine physician Dale Glenn and North Kansas City Hospital neonatal intensive care unit nurses Lani Bamfield, Amanda Beeding and Mimi Ho helped Mounga deliver her son and monitored the baby’s health for several hours.
Glenn said that an infant’s first minute of life is vital and that without the intervention of the three nurses, the baby might not have survived. While in labor, Glenn said, Mounga p.assed out, most likely from shock. “Myself and the nurses’ survival mode Keᴄᴋed in; we had to create an ICU unit within an airline,” Glenn said. “Plus, we didn’t just have one patient, we had two.”
The impromptu medical team was able to create makeshift medical equipment, in part thanks to Glenn’s wilderness training. Glenn said they used multiple shoelaces to cut the baby’s umbilical cord, and an Apple Watch was used to monitor the baby’s heart rate. To keep the premature baby warm, bottles of water were microwaved, and the nurses wrapped him in plastic.
Glenn said the passengers were “surprisingly calm” and offered their own diapers and blankets to help the mother and son. Glenn also applauded Mounga’s strength; he said she was up and walking minutes after her delivery.
The four passengers worked to keep Mounga and baby Raymond safe for three hours until the plane landed. Once they arrived in Honolulu, the mother and baby were taken to Kapiolani Medical Center for Women and Children. In a Tik Tok video shared by Julia Hansen, passengers can be seen cheering and congratulating Mounga as she leaves the plane. The video has garnered more than 13 million views.
