While flights are generally smooth and uneventful, once in a while there is a story that shows how adventurous flying can truly be. In an expected twist, a woman flying from Utah to Honolulu on April 28, 2021, ended up giving birth to her son mid-flight. Lavinia “Lavi” Mounga was flying with her family for a vacation when the event took place according to Local 12 News. It was filmed by another passenger on the place and posted onto TikTok, where it has become viral over the last week.
The most surprising fact about this story is that Mounga had no idea that she was even pregnant! This story is both surprising and heartwarming, as the video and photos that were taken afterward show that the baby, who is named Raymond, has been welcomed into the world with a lot of love and care. Many news outlets reported that Mounga and her family are beyond thrilled to welcome into their fold.
Since Raymond was born as a premature baby, he needed help from professionals right away to be supported through the flight until they landed. When asked if a doctor was present in the place, Mounga and Raymond were both lucky that they had one doctor and three nurses on the flight! More importantly, the nurses were also specially trained NICU nurses, which put both Raymond and his mother in really good hands.
It isn’t every day that miraculous coincidences like this take place, but we are sure that everyone on the plane will remember this event for the rest of their lives.
KIRO7 reported that Raymond was born at 29 weeks, which is almost three months premature. Healthline reported that babies born at this point have an 80% or 90% chance of survival, but that they can also face a myriad of complications from breathing problems to even seizures. This means that Raymond needed help right away to survive, and his best chances were if the doctors would be specially trained to help premature babies.
Thankfully for Mounga and her son, Lani Bamfield, Amanda Beeding and Mimi Ho, who work as neonatal intensive care unit nurses from North Kansas City Hospital were on board along with Dr. Dale Glenn, a Hawaii Pacific Health family medicine physician. Local 12 News reported that in a Hawaii Pacific Health press release, Glenn said, “About halfway through the flight, there was an emergency call, and I’ve experienced this before and usually they’re pretty clear asking if there is a doctor on board. This call was not like this and it was fairly urgent.”
Bamfield then heard someone calling for medical help and when she went to help, she saw how small the baby was and jumped right into action along with the two other nurses. “We’re all trying to work in a very small, confined space in an airplane, which is pretty challenging. But the teamwork was great,” Glenn said. Even though there was no specialized equipment to help Raymond, all four of them got creative and used objects around them to keep the baby supported. Moreover, Glenn said in the statement that the mother had to be supported too according to 7News Australia.
“Basically, you need somebody to watch the mum too because we have two patients, not just one,” Glenn added.
Shoelaces were used to tie and cut through the umbilical cord, microwaved bottles were used to keep Raymond warm and an Apple watch proved handy to measure the newborn’s heart rate. As soon as the plane landed, both Mounga and Raymond were rushed to the hospital and 7News Australia reported that both mom and son were “doing great.”
Mounga’s story went viral after another passenger, Julia Hansen, recorded the event and posted it on TikTok. Mounga’s sisters launched a GoFundMe page for the new mom and baby and wrote, “Our miracle baby nephew was born with 3 hours left on our flight and was such a strong trooper. Our sister did not know she was pregnant so she was just as shocked as the rest of us when our nephew was born!”
It isn’t uncommon for pregnancy like this to occur. WebMD states that one in 400 or 500 women are 20 weeks, or about 5 months, into their pregnancy before they realize they are actually pregnant. Interestingly, the website further states, “That’s about the same as one woman on a commercial jet full of moms-to-be.” The chances of that happening are certainly not as rare as some may believe.
Giving birth must have been a major shock for Mounga, but the story had a great ending as both mom and son are safe, and are already met with so much love and support from their family. They will be staying in Hawaii until Raymond is strong enough to fly back to Utah.
