Mom Gives Birth Mid-Flight, Because Babies Don't Care About Our Birth Plans

Because babies don’t give a shit about your birth plan

So many pregnant moms agonize over creating the perfect birth plan, or at least entertain an idea of how it will all go down once labor hits. The funny thing about planning your birth is that in the end, we have little to no control over any of it. As long as the baby is delivered safely, who really cares about the manner in which it arrives? Well this mom and her brand new baby have officially redefined the term “grand entrance” in terms of an arrival.

Last week, Christina Penton, a 36-weeks-pregnant passenger on a Spirit Airlines flight, felt like something wasn’t quite right. Which lead to her having her baby. On a plane. In the air.

Fellow passenger Shelley Hedgecock Starks captured the aftermath of the moment henceforth known as Birth On A Plane (with Penton’s permission) and wee little Christoph Lezcano’s first few minutes of life.

Starks writes, “We just experienced the birth of a baby in the seat in front of us on our flight and had to do an emergency landing in New Orleans we visited with the doctor that delivered the baby while waiting to get on our flight!”

It’s actually pretty amazing, once you get past the pangs of empathy for Penton. I mean, can you imagine? Planes are really just the buses of the sky. Sharing the most vulnerable moment of your life with a bunch of gawking strangers is what nightmares are made of. Thankfully, Penton and her baby (her third!) are just fine.

“Everything started happening very quickly,” Penton told WGNO News. “I didn’t think I was having the baby because it was too soon, but after a few minutes I knew I needed medical attention. The flight attendants contacted doctors on the ground and they advised the flight attendants to see if there were any medical personnel on board. As it turned out there was a pediatrician and a nurse. Soon after that, it was clear I was having my baby, and I was in pure panic.”

GURL. Can we all just take a minute to breathe on behalf of this mom? Going into labor mid-flight would be absolutely terrifying. Especially because she was flying with her other two children, ages 11 and 12, at the time. Penton said she had a healthy pregnancy and had no reason to believe she’d deliver her baby early.

The baby was delivered swiftly and safely thanks to a pediatrician and nurse who were on board the flight, according to a press conference held by the New Orleans Advocate. While the doctor hadn’t delivered a baby in a decade (eek), everything went as smoothly as it possibly could in the middle of a cramped aircraft with probably zero sterility but plenty of rubbernecking.

The pilots rerouted the flight to land in New Orleans, where a local hospital was notified of the situation. That baby was all “IDGAF” about medical safety and convenience, but at least all proper precautions were taken just in case.

The best part of this story (you know, besides the Thank-God-They’re-Alright part) is that baby Christian earned himself free airfare, all for being impatient as hell to get off one. He gets to fly Spirit Airlines for free for the next 21 years, which means there are plenty of adventures that await him and his family.

We just don’t know how he’ll ever top this one.