A Nigerian woman who was heavily pregnant has gone into labour and given birth inside a plane which was en route New York.
Dr Sij Hemal, 27, (left) delivered Toying Ogyndipe's baby boy on a flight from Paris to New York last month
Toyin Ogundipe, a 41-year-old Nigerian banker aboard an Air France flight, was delivered of a baby boy mid-air about 35,000 feet above sea level and four hours away from the destination.
According to
Mailonline, the mother of two who lives in the UK had gone into labour a week earlier than her delivery date, and was in childbirth pains and having contractions about 10 minutes apart.
The baby, who was named Jake, was delivered after a 30-minute labour, Mailonline states.
A second-year urology resident, Dr. Sij Hemal, who was also a passenger in the plane, helped with the delivery of the baby half-way through an eight-hour flight from Paris to New York.
The mother-of-two from Nigeria was 39 weeks pregnant when she went into labor 35,000 feet in the air
Dr. Hemal, who spoke to Mailonline, said he was just glad everything went smoothly — and was relieved it all happened before he’d had any champagne.
He said, “We’re trained to stay calm and think clearly in emergency situations. I just tried to think ahead to what might go wrong and come up with a creative solution.”
While talking about his fear, he mentioned that his biggest fear was that the mother could die from bleeding or shock after birth.
But looking back, he insists it all went as well as it could have done.
“I thought I’d just have a drink and fall asleep. As it turned out, I’m glad I didn’t drink anything,” he said.
Jake was born on December 17 and a pediatrician on board said he appeared to be healthy
Dr. Hemal, who had been on vacation in New Dehli, India, was flying coach class via Paris and New York on his way back to Cleveland, Ohio, on December 17.
Coincidentally, when the flight attendants came to ask him for advice, the urologist at Cleveland Clinic’s Glickman Urological and Kidney Institute discovered he was seated next to Dr. Stefanie Ortolan, a pediatrician from France.
The pair were ushered over to Ogundipe, also in coach, who was complaining of chest pains and dizziness.
Ogundipe was in labour and having contractions about 10 minutes apart.
The mother-of-two is now recovering in New Jersey with friends
While the flight attendants took care of Ogundipe’s four-year-old daughter, Amy, the doctors used instruments and supplies in the flight’s medical kit to routinely check her blood pressure, oxygen rate, and pulse.
Within an hour, the contractions were coming more frequently, occurring seven, then five and finally two minutes apart.
“My initial plan was to monitor her and her vitals, but we did a cervical exam and that’s when her water broke,” he said.
“That’s when we knew we were going to deliver on the plane,” Dr. Hemal added.