Two Ontario nurses help deliver baby during a flight to Dubai
Two registered nurses from Ottawa and Kingston have been an integral part in the delivery of a baby on board a flight heading to Dubai.
The two friends -- Eunice Publow from the Ottawa Hospital and Lindsey Kilgore from Kingston Health Centre -- were on vacation exploring Thailand and Indonesia while attending beach parties and cooking classes, said the Ottawa Hospital in a release on its website.
In February, three weeks into the vacation, they decided to take a seven-hour flight to Dubai. In the middle of the flight, “tens of thousands of feet above the Arabian Sea, a fellow passenger went into labour.”
“About five hours into the flight, there was an announcement asking for medical professionals to make themselves known,” Publow said in the release. “I had overheard one of the flight crew members say ‘baby,’ so my ears immediately perked up. I went and got Lindsey, who was napping at the time, and we presented ourselves to the crew.”
Kilgore says they weren’t the only professionals on board the flight.
“There was a resident physician from Austria named Lena who was training in obstetrics, and she came forward, too,” Kilgore said in the release. “The three of us formed a little team to work together.”
Ontario’s two nurses say the flight attendants changed the mother’s seat from the emergency exit and moved her to a seat behind a curtain. That was when the resident physician followed her to deliver the baby.
However, when the baby was born, no crying was heard, creating a need to “improvise,” said Kilgore.
“We attend a lot of deliveries, but normally we have all our equipment and our people, so we really had to improvise. The baby did need a bit of oxygen, but fortunately, there’s no shortage of oxygen masks on a plane! Eventually, she started to cry,” said Kilgore.
Publow adds that they asked the crew to get them blankets to keep the newly born baby warm.
“And when she was an hour old, we used a glucometer to test her blood sugar, which was slightly on the low side,” said Publow, noting that they helped the mother breastfeed.
The two nurses not only helped ensure the baby is doing well, but also were asked by the captain whether there was a need to divert the plane. And since the baby was doing okay, they determined there was no need to divert.
“For me, this experience really re-iterated the role of a nurse — it highlighted that this is more than just a job,” said Kilgore.
“This is something that spills over into everyday life and not something you can get away from. Being willing to help is definitely a part of who you are. And even though it was a stressful situation, it really showed how a group of strangers can really come together to work as a team and create a good outcome for someone in need.”
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
'Inspires a sense of adventure': Sask. man conquers Mount Everest
A Saskatchewan man made it to the summit of Mount Everest earlier this month.
Grayson Murray's parents say the two-time PGA Tour winner died of suicide
Grayson Murray's parents said Sunday their 30-year-old son took his own life, just one day after he withdrew from a PGA Tour event. The family asked for privacy and that people honor Murray by being kind to one another.
Some birds may use 'mental time travel,' study finds
Real quick — what did you have for lunch yesterday? Were you with anyone? Where were you? Can you picture the scene? The ability to remember things that happened to you in the past, especially to go back and recall little incidental details, is a hallmark of what psychologists call episodic memory — and new research indicates that it’s an ability humans may share with birds called Eurasian jays.
This type of screen time has the worst effect on kids: experts
According to some experts, there is one type of screen time that is continuously excessive, and it's having a severe effect on our children.
Hamas rocket attack from Gaza sets off air raid sirens in Tel Aviv for the first time in months
Hamas fired a barrage of rockets from Gaza that set off air raid sirens as far away as Tel Aviv for the first time in months on Sunday in a show of resilience more than seven months into Israel's massive air, sea and ground offensive.
Blaine Higgs 'furious' over sexual education presentation
New Brunswick Premier Blaine Higgs has shared his anger on social media over a presentation in at least four high schools.
Trump confronts repeated boos during raucous Libertarian convention speech
Donald Trump was booed repeatedly while addressing Saturday night’s Libertarian Party National Convention.
Indianapolis 500 delayed as strong storm forces fans to evacuate Indianapolis Motor Speedway
The start of the Indianapolis 500 was delayed as a strong storm pushed through the area Sunday, forcing Indianapolis Motor Speedway officials to evacuate about 125,000 fans who had already arrived for "The Greatest Spectacle in Racing."
Driver, 18, gets $3,000 ticket, 32 demerit points after speeding on Laval boulevard
A young driver received a hefty fine from Laval police after they say he was driving nearly 100 km/h over the posted speed limit.