Most people are used to screaming babies on flights — not babies being born on flights.
But that’s exactly what happened during an April 28 flight when a woman named Lavinia “Lavi” Mounga suddenly gave birth to her child at 28 weeks gestation.
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In other words, she had no idea she was pregnant. This is a mind-blowing story you’ll want to check out!
There’s something so mind-blowing about people being in the right place at the right time.
Like this person who captured this photo of an owl flying by the groom at just the right second during a wedding.
Or this person who “acquired a bird’s eye view.”
There is only one word capable of describing these types of coincidences: perfection.
Everything is simply lined up at the perfect time to bring the internet stories such as this.
Another case of people being “in the right place at the right time” recently took place aboard an April 28 flight from Salt Lake City to Hawaii.
There, a doctor and neonatal medical professionals were there when a woman named Lavinia “Lavi” Mounga suddenly went into labor.
Oh, and before we get into how the medical team sprung into action, you should know…
The woman giving birth didn’t even KNOW she was pregnant.
I can’t imagine how scared she must have been when labor began.
The team of medical professionals included Dr. Dale Glenn, a Hawaii Pacific Health family medicine physician, along with neonatal intensive care unit nurses, Lani Bamfield, Amanda Beeding, and Mimi Ho.
Glenn shared his side of the story with the Hawaiian press. “About halfway through the flight, there was an emergency call,” Glenn shared .
“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.”
After Bamfield heard the same medical call, she saw how tiny the baby was at 28 weeks gestation.
This led the doctor and nurses to spring into action, taking creative measures to replace special equipment found in hospitals.
For example, they used shoelaces to cut the umbilical cord and a smartwatch to measure the newborn’s heart rate.
Which, as you can imagine, is not an easy thing to do, even if you’re not on an airplane.
“We’re all trying to work in a very small, confined space in an airplane,” Glenn said.
While he said this was pretty challenging, he applauded their teamwork.
As such a unique moment, many people on board the plane were taking videos.
This includes TikTok user Julia Hansen whose video of the rare event has since gone viral. As of now, it has over 12 million views.
In addition to giving millions of users a behind-the-scenes look at what happened, she spoke to *The Washington Post* about the incident.
“Everyone just kind of got up, got their carry-on and left,” Hansen said about Mounga and her son, Raymond, who were escorted off first.
When the new mom got off the plane, she was greeted by medical crews tasked with getting her and her child to the Kapiolani Medical Center for Women & Children.
It was there that the three nurses from the flight went to visit Mounga for an undoubtedly emotional reunion.
“We all just teared up. She called us family and said we’re all his aunties, and it was so great to see them,” Ho said.
While Mounga has been discharged, her baby Raymond is still in the NICU until he’s ready to go home.
This has given Mounga the time to share her thoughts.
“It has been very overwhelming,” Mounga said.
“I’m just so lucky that there were three NICU nurses and a doctor on the plane to help me, and help stabilize him and make sure he was ok for the duration of the flight.”
Check out the incredible moments for yourself in the video!
And if you know of any other amazing stories like this one, tell us about them down in the comment section below.
We would love to hear from you!
