Woman Giving Birth To Baby Mid-Flight Goes Viral On TikTok

While childbirth can get overwhelming in itself, things escalated to a whole new level on a recent Delta flight from Salt Lake to Hawaii. A young mother gave birth to a baby boy somewhere over the Pacific Ocean on Wednesday.

“Everybody’s kind of turning back to see what’s happening, and then there’s a lot of shuffling between flight attendants,” said Siearra Rowlan, a young woman who was traveling in the same flight with a friend, Julia Hansen.

“The speaker goes on and off like they’re about to announce something but they don’t. Then there’s a little baby crying,” she added. Hansen was initially asleep but managed to capture bits of the dramatic incident and shared the video, which eventually went viral on TikTok. The identities of the newborn and his mother remain undisclosed, as Hansen had edited their faces out before sharing the clip.

The TikTok video had also featured bits that led up to the event i.e. announcement informing passengers of the birth; to an eruption of applause for the mother; to a crew of EMTs boarding to provide medical assistance to the mother upon landing. Passengers are seen applauding as the mother exits the plane in a wheelchair, carrying the newborn. The passengers co-operated with the unexpected event and waited until the mother was escorted off by wheelchair first.

The airline confirmed the occurrence on one of its flights from Salt Lake City to Honolulu on Wednesday. Not much was disclosed about the incident or the familial background of the newborn child. The video raised concerns as to why the passenger was permitted to onboard the flight if the flyer was heavily pregnant. While the airline does not prohibit flyers who’re pregnant, they categorically suggest medical advice to those who’re in the advanced stages of their pregnancy.

“At Delta, we don’t impose restrictions on flying if you’re pregnant and don’t require a medical certificate for you to travel,” the airline says on its website, adding, “If you’re traveling after your eighth month, it’s a good idea to check with your doctor to be sure travel is not restricted,” according to Fox News. Despite the pandemic, Las Vegas has reportedly seen an uptick in fliers. The peculiar incident also raised concerns about the child’s birth certificate details.

According to the State Department’s Foreign Affairs Manual, “a U.S.-registered aircraft outside U.S. airspace is not considered to be part of U.S. territory,” and “a child born on such an aircraft outside US airspace does not acquire U.S. citizenship by reason of the place of birth,” Washington Post reported. But if a child is born over US airspace, they would be granted U.S. citizenship.