An airline passenger's photo has
gone viral after she posted a snapshot of a fellow traveler holding the
baby she gave birth to while 36,000 feet in the sky.
"You could call it an uneventful flight, if you want to ... but it wasn't,'" Missy Berberabe Umandal of Makati, Philippines,
wrote to ABC News today. "It was such [a] heartening moment. Mothers
don't get as much credit as they do, and that mother who gave birth on a
plane was truly a wonder[ful] woman."
Umandal said she was flying home
with her mother via Cebu Pacific Airlines to the Philippines from
Dubai, when a woman went into labor merely "feet" away from her.
The airline confirmed to ABC
News today that the baby was born premature at 32 weeks approximately
four hours after the flight's departure from the Dubai International
Airport on Aug. 14. The mother and baby were assisted by the flight crew
and two registered nurses who were passengers that day.
"Throughout my 11 years of
flying, this is certainly the most special," a member of the flight's
lead cabin crew said in a soundbite released to ABC News. "Our team was
calm and collected and did what they were trained to do to help.
"... We are blessed to have been
an instrument in your safe delivery," he added in a message to the
mother. "You will always be my most memorable passenger."
While flying, Umandal, 20,
photographed the touching moment when the mother held her new daughter
for the first time. Umandal then posted it on Facebook, where it
received thousands of shares.
"I was definitely surprised by
the amount of shares, likes, and compliments I received from family,
friends, and even strangers around the world," she said. "It was
actually meant to be private, just for friends, really."
Umandel added: "Witnessing that
event has changed me in more ways than one. I wanted to be able to touch
the lives of others by narrating a story of how a miracle came to be."
The mom from the airplane is
declining press interviews at this time, according to Cebu Pacific. In
celebration of the baby girl's birth, the airline has awarded her and
her family with one million, non-expiring "GetGo" points, which can be
used to fly for free.
Umandel is in touch with the sister and brother of the woman who gave birth and hopes to meet all of them in person, she said. (abc news)
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