Aeroplane breech delivery!!

Found this in TheAge online today...amazing! Breech delivery to a woman who didn't know she was pregnant!!!

Aussie doctor delivers baby mid-flight
Email Print Normal font Large font May 27, 2007 - 5:59AM

An Australian obstetrician has taken her professional skills to new heights by helping a Brazilian woman - who didn't even known she was pregnant - give birth in a plane flying high above the Pacific Ocean during a flight from Auckland to Santiago.

To make things even more difficult, the baby was in the breech position, where it had turned around in the uterus and was ready to be born with its feet first, News Limited reported on Sunday.

Luckily for the baby and her mum, Dr Jenny Cook from Adelaide's Flinders Medical Centre was on board the flight, and managed to deliver the baby girl with only a basic first-aid kit and an emergency oxygen mask on hand.

The drama occurred on Good Friday, April 7, after the 26-year-old Brazilian woman complained of back pain about 10 hours into the flight.

She was undergoing contractions and her waters had broken, but the woman, known only as Aline, was adamant she was not pregnant.

Dr Cook's boarding pass had shown she was a medical practitioner, so the LAN Chile flight crew approached her for help.

Dr Cook, 37, confirmed the baby was in the breech position, which often requires a caesarean delivery.

"I didn't know what was going to happen - if the baby was going to breathe, if the mother was going to bleed. And if I had to make any cuts to get the baby out, were they going to give me a plastic knife?" Dr Cook told News Limited.

She had to perform the delivery next to the toilets and meal preparation area, where blankets were spread on the ground and the curtains were drawn.

As the other passengers slept, oblivious to what was going on, four stunned crew members watched as Dr Cook guided baby - who Aline named Barbara - into the world in minutes.

A flight attendant translated for Dr Cook and Aline, who spoke only Portuguese.

"I held her up by the legs, and put her on her mum's stomach," Dr Cook said.

"The staff said: 'What do we do now? And I said: 'Take photos!'"

During the remaining two-and-a-half hours of the flight, Aline bonded with her new daughter at the front of the plane and Dr Cook was upgraded to first class, presented with a bottle of vintage French champagne and thanked profusely.

On her return flight a month later, Dr Cook was presented with a bottle of French perfume and the pilot gave her a kiss of thanks.

Aline had since emailed to say she and Barbara were doing well, calling Dr Cook "my angel".

I always say this - but isn't it funny that these 'danger' scenarios almost always end out really well? That mother would be feeling so well, compared to what would have been a 6 week recovery!

I hope the doctor now has some faith in breech birth :)

Fantastic effort. Congratulations to both mum and Dr Cook.

I wonder if Dr Cook is an OB? If not she should be LOL!

Yep she is :)

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An Australian obstetrician has taken her professional skills to new heights

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Wow that is amazing!

Wow, that's a fantastic effort by all involved.

Luckily for her Dr Cook was on board.

Gosh I'm slow this morning, I missed that part Liz.

I think Aline's angel must've got on that flight too, amazing that an OB was on board for her when she needed it!!!!

Thats amazing.. Good luck to them all

I am still in awe to the fact that she didn't know she was pregnant!!! Imagine that....

How do you honestly not know your pregnant. I know you hear about it happening quite often. But seriously, don't these women feel their babies move around. Don't they feel the kicks in their stomach, the changes in their breasts and the rest of their body ??

Beyond me, that's all.

I agree. I don't see how.

Although a friend of mine found out she was pregnant then not sure of dates her Dr sent her for a scan thinking between 6-12 weeks and she turned out to be 18 weeks. This was her 3rd baby and she is a tiny person. But still going to full term and not knowing seems very strange

It is an amazing story. I bet it turns out that she did know that she was pregnant but she denied it as you cannot fly internationally that close to term and she would not have been able to get her flight home. I work in travel and have booked passengers who are close to term and when I tell them, they just say that they won't tell the airline they are that far along. How lucky she was to have an OB on her flight!

I know someone who turned up to hospital with bad pains and out popped a baby. She doesn't tell many people because she's completely embarrassed that she had no idea she was pregnant, and of course people don't believe her.

Yes Liz, There is a woman who lives near me who when she was a teen pretty much got up in the middle of the night and had a baby in the toilet. She apparently never knew she was pregnant and had her period the whole time. She was a bit on the large side, so the weight gain was not noticed as much and the baby was only quite small. Amazing but what a shock!

Love the point about plastic knives!

Maybe hospitals should only have plastic knives - might reduce the episiotomies! hehe.

What a wonderful article :) My first thought was that "I hope the doctor's attitude to breech births has changed now" (if she was one to avoid performing them). I hope also that she shares her story with all her colleagues too. If only more OBs could successfully deal with a situation like this.