Baby on Board - When the cabin crew discover they can deliver more than just breakfast...

In this short story, a dramatic in-flight medical emergency occurs aboard a flight from London Heathrow to Johannesburg. The cabin crew, accustomed to handling common medical issues, faces an unexpected challenge when a pregnant passenger goes into labor prematurely.

Music Credits

Catch It - Music by Yrii Semchyshyn from Pixabay

Sound Effect from Pixabay

Rock it - Music by Yrii Semchyshyn from Pixabay

Sound Effect by Rotich Wilson from Pixabay

Life of a Wandering Wizard - Music by Sergei Chetvertnykh from Pixabay

Sound Effect by UNIVERSFIELD from Pixabay

Music by Oleg Fedak from

Transcript

Medicals… we crew see, and deal with them all the time. For those of us with a few years’ experience we barely blink when someone collapses in the aisle, getting their legs raised and the oxygen on without having to even think about it, so common are faints on board. We deal with vomit, allergic reactions, asthma attacks and burns… and know how to treat dozens of conditions from sun stroke to angina. Our manual is BIG, and every year we go back into training to recap and practice our lifesaving skills on the rubber dolls affectionally known as Annies. Thankfully serious medicals aren’t common, and we all just hope that it won’t be our flight they talk of with the cardiac arrest on board, or worst still, a death… but we are ready and prepared for it, because they do happen sometimes.

And then there are those last few pages of the manual that you flick through quickly, drawing out the important facts that might come up in the exam, but don’t really take in, because the chances of that happening on board is soooo remote that in all likelihood it is never going to happen to you, is it?

London Heathrow to Johannesburg 0100hrs

‘Excuse me.’

Dan looked up from the box which he was loading with hot meals from the oven. A young, strikingly pretty lady with long, braided hair was standing in the galley entrance. ‘Yes, my love. How can I help?’ he asked.

‘I don’t suppose you have some paracetamol, I’ve got a bit of a tummy ache,’ she asked quietly, pulling her cardigan around her. Her voice was so soft and quiet he could only just hear her, but he thought she spoke with a South African accent.

‘Of course,’ Dan smiled, putting the now full box on top of the cart behind him. The back galley was chaos as the crew prepared for the dinner service; bodies, carts and boxes everywhere. He reached into an atlas box above his head and pulled out the paracetamol from the first aid kit.

‘Here you go,’ he said, popping two tablets into her outstretched hand. ‘Do you need to read the dosage instructions?’ he offered. 

She shook her head and smiled, helping herself to a glass of water from the side and going back out into the aisle.

‘No dramas tonight please,’ said the purser, Zoe, from the other side of the galley. ‘I’m here for a nice easy flight.’

‘Aren’t we all love,’ Dan replied. In the past week he had broken up with his boyfriend of ten years and moved home with his parents. The whole thing had sent him in a downwards spiral of self-doubt and set him wondering what the point of life really was. A nice easy flight was just what he needed…anything more and he wasn’t sure he would cope…

**********

The cabin was dark, and the lights in the back galley were dim now as Dan and Zoe sat on their jump seats eating their dinner. The rest of the economy crew were in the crew rest area overhead, asleep in their bunks.

‘I just feel…’ Dan struggled to find the word he was looking for. Zoe waited, she had sat and listened to him for the past half an hour, and he was already feeling better for getting it off his chest. ‘Pointless,’ he sighed when he found it. ‘Yes, that’s it. I feel pointless.’

Zoe rubbed his shoulder. ‘But you’re not. You just feel that way because of what’s happened,’ she said kindly.

A blue light clicked on in the panel above their heads and a sharp Ding interrupted them.

‘I’ll go,’ sighed Zoe, pushing herself up and putting her dinner tray on the galley side. She picked up a glass of water, pre-empting what the call bell was for. As she left the galley on the right-hand side a figure appeared on the left. Dan recognised her as the lady with the stomach pain from earlier. She was frowning, hugging herself as she leaned over slightly. 

‘Are you okay, Love,’ Dan stood up and stepped closer to her. 

‘The pain is getting worse,’ she said, looking up at him, her eyes glassy with tears.

Dan looked at his watch. It would be at least another hour before he could offer her anymore painkillers, he realised, and he wondered how else he might be able to help her.

‘Are you ok?’ To his relief Zoe appeared back into the galley. Medicals weren’t really his thing, not something he was confident with yet after just six months at the airline. Zoe, however, was already launching into the questions you needed to ask, she didn’t need to consult a manual like he did. He watched her, awe struck by just how calm and confident she was.

‘When was your last oral intake?’ she asked. ‘Do you have any allergies? Do you take any medication?’ The lady, who was now leaning over almost in half, clutching the galley side, answered her quickly, her breaths short and fast.

‘Is there any chance that you could be pregnant?’ Zoe asked matter-of-factly.

She looked up now. ‘Yes, yes I am pregnant.’

There was a brief silence, as Zoe drew in a deep breath. ‘How far gone are you?’ she exhaled, her tone flat.

‘Thirty-two weeks.’

Dan felt his stomach drop to his feet and cursed himself for not taking first break when it was offered. His eyes locked with Zoe’s for just a second, before a gushing sound drew their attention downwards. Water poured from somewhere unknown and rushed across the galley floor towards him like a wave. He tensed as it washed under his shoes... He didn’t need to be an expert to know what had just happened.

‘Well, that will be your waters broken,’ Zoe said. ‘Dan, can you get me some blankets and pillows. Madam, please take a seat.’

Dan rushed out into the aisle, relieved to have a moment away… out where things were still calm and normal. The cabin was full to the gills tonight and he scanned the floor with his torch, looking for dropped pillows and unused blankets that he could commandeer.

Zoe’s voice came over the PA, disturbing the quiet of the cabin. ‘If we have a medically qualified volunteer on board tonight, please can you make yourself known to a member of the crew,’ she said. In the opposite aisle two crew from the front were walking quickly towards the back. One of them was carrying the emergency medical kit in her arms, the one with all the hospital grade equipment and meds in it, and Dan knew that, whether he liked it or not, the nice easy flight they had hoped for was a thing of the past.

**********

‘So, no volunteers have come forward?’ the captain asked.

 ‘No,’ Dan said with a shake of his head. Out of all nearly three hundred passengers, not a single one was of any use to them right now. As the person designated to communicate with the pilots, he was stood on the interphone at the door, his back to the galley. He could hear the woman making primitive noises that were sending his whole body into a cold sweat and making his legs tremble. He knew that behind him she was now lead on blankets on the hard floor, her legs spread wide as Zoe followed the instructions of the doctors on the ground. He couldn’t hear what they were saying, she was wearing a headset, but every now and then she would give them some information… times of contractions, blood pressure and so on. She sounded so calm, so in control…while he just wanted to open the door and jump out right now. 

Dan gulped as it dawned on him properly for the first time that the baby would be premature, that it wasn’t supposed to come out yet… that they could have a whole other medical on their hands once it arrived.

The captain was still speaking to him, but his mind was drifting. ‘Okay?’ he asked.

‘Sorry, can you repeat that,’ Dan said, feeling like he might cry.

‘I said we will have to land. I’ll get back to you. You’d better wake the rest of the crew up.’

‘Understood.’ Dan said, feeling a brief, welcome moment of relief. Surely they could land quickly enough to get the poor woman to a hospital? Quick enough to get the poor baby some help? 

‘Diverting?’ Zoe called as he put the handset back in its cradle.

He turned around to answer her. ‘Yes,’ he said.

She leaned towards him. ‘Where exactly are we? I hope we don’t end up in the Congo,’ she whispered.

Dan’s eyes widened. ‘Surely not?’ He knew they were flying over Africa but surely there were safer places to land? He was trying his best to stay calm but apparently his face didn’t get the memo.

Zoe laughed. ‘I’m only kidding,’ she smiled. ‘They’ll need to go somewhere with decent medical facilities,’ she said. ‘Although if he doesn’t hurry up…’ her voice trailed off as a deep groan came from behind her.  As much as Dan didn’t want to, he couldn’t help but look into the galley now. The lady was laid with her head in a crewmember’s lap. Her hair was stuck with sweat to her head, her knees were up, and her legs were covered with a blanket. The crew were dressed like surgeons, hair in shower caps, long aprons and gloves on, while all along the galley side things from the medical kit were lined up neatly… clamps for the umbilical cord, a tiny plastic mask and other things he had no idea about.

It looked like a hospital... a hospital at 35,000 feet.

**********

 ‘So, yes, um,’ the captain stuttered over the PA, having just announced that, due to a medical emergency on board, they would be diverting the flight to Palma. ‘Er, so we do have one small issue in that we are too heavy to land as we are,’ there was silence as everyone listened intently. ‘So, um, we will need to lose some fuel in order to reduce our weight. But, um, unfortunately though, the, er, system that would help us jettison the fuel faster doesn’t appear to be working as it should…’ he paused, ‘So, um, we will have to fly around for a little while longer than we would have hoped to burn it off…’ Dan wondered how long a little while was. How long could someone be in labour once their waters broke, anyway?  ‘So,’ the captain concluded. ‘Apologies once again folks, we’ll do our best to get you to Johannesburg as soon as we possibly can, but, er, well, these things happen…’

Dan winced, not sure that ‘these things happen’ quite cut it right now.

An elderly man in the back row turned around and glared at Dan. ‘What the hell is she doing on the flight anyway,’ he demanded. ‘Why did you let her on?’  Dan shrugged, hoping that she hadn’t heard him, not knowing what to say. Deep down he understood his point, and he was sure he wasn’t the only one thinking it, but if someone didn’t tell you they were pregnant, and it really hadn’t been obvious to the eye, then how, he supposed, were check in staff supposed to know? Besides, he was sure that 32 weeks was just at the limit of when a pregnant person could travel without any restrictions… Not that he could be definite without looking it up…

‘It’s coming.’

He didn’t know who said it, whether it was the mum-to-be, who’s name they now knew was Joelle, or one of the crew, but someone had just said it’s coming, and with those two small words all of Dan’s hope that they were going to be on the ground, with paramedics, before the baby arrived, evaporated into the thin air of the cabin.

What ensued, he couldn’t be quite sure of. His ears were ringing, any words were just a jumble. Against all of his instincts he watched, as a wet, hair covered head emerged from, well, where babies emerge from… he gripped the galley side as his legs gave way.

**********

‘Oh, for heaven’s sake, sit down before you fall down Man,’ Zoe barked, bringing him to his senses.  She pointed to the space on the floor next to her and he knelt down in it. ‘Now, catch the baby,’ she ordered.

Dan turned and looked at her, the horror on his face making her laugh. ‘Geez, just catch the baby,’ she said, handing him a pair of gloves and an apron.

‘Right, Joelle, you’re doing great, you’re nearly there.’

Joelle nodded. 

Zoe looked to make sure Dan was ready. He had his gloves and apron on and was obviously trying to look anywhere but at where the baby was coming out from.

‘Okay, are you ready?’ she asked him. He nodded and cupped his hands in front of him like a rugby player.

‘On the next contraction, tell her to push,’ said the doctor’s voice in her ear.

‘Understood,’ Zoe replied. She felt calm enough, even though her heart was threatening to pound its way out of her chest. As a child she had wanted to be a paramedic, and if she were honest, she quite liked a good on board medical… even one as extreme as this one was.

**********

The baby arrived, kicking and screaming into Dan’s hands. Its chubby legs cycling, arms flailing, fists clenched. He watched it, in awe that he was holding a new life in his own hands… he was the first person that little… he paused his thoughts and looked to make sure… that little boy had seen.

Zoe, meanwhile, looked down and marvelled, not only at the miracle of life, but at the sheer size of this supposedly premature baby. She wasn’t a mother herself, had no desire to be, but she was pretty sure that as far as babies went this one, with its full head of hair and full set of nails, was a fair size… not the tiny one she had been expecting.

‘32 weeks you said?’ 

Joelle smiled serenely at her and nodded back. Zoe had a strong suspicion that she was lying, she had just wanted to get home, and for whatever reason had stayed in the UK for longer than she should have. That, though, was nothing to do with her. 

‘Zoe?’ The doctor’s voice in her ear interrupted.

‘Yes, sorry, I was miles away,’ she apologised. ‘It’s a boy, he’s been crying so I think he’s okay,’ she said, feeling suddenly, uncharacteristically, emotional.

‘Yes, we heard him,’ the voice said cheerfully. ‘Congratulations to you all.’

‘Thank you.’ She felt a smile spreading over her face, and her eyes stung.

‘We still need you to cut the cord and deliver the placenta though, it’s not over yet,’ the doctor said, serious again.

‘Oh,’ she said. Could they not wait until they landed for that? Had she not done enough? Dan had handed the baby to the mother now, and all of the crew were on the floor with her cooing over him. She, meanwhile, she was down this end still, covered in blood and doing all of the hard work. Not that she really minded. ‘Just a moment, I need to let the captain know.’ She pushed herself up from the floor and picked up the phone at the door.

‘Captain,’ she said when he answered. ‘You have an extra passenger for your Gendec.’

‘Oh, my word. Well, that is quite something,’ he said slowly, a slight wobble in his voice. ‘How is everyone?’ he asked.

‘All good,’ Zoe said, smiling and looking back at the scene in the galley. ‘Mother and baby are doing fine. I just need to cut the cord and deliver the placenta…’

‘Well, it makes a change from delivering breakfast I guess,’ he said.

‘Yes, yes it does,’ Zoe laughed.

**********

The landing was heavy, the smell of rubber from the hot tyres coming in through the air vents. With their backs to the wall of the rear galley Zoe and another crew member sat either side of the new mother. The baby was sleeping soundly, wrapped in an economy blanket in her arms. They hadn’t wanted to move her, just in case of bleeding, and so the decision to land like this had been taken. The plane rumbled to a halt, and Zoe stood up, disarming the doors as they arrived at a gate.

Within minutes the paramedics were on board, and once they had done their checks they lifted them both into the wheelchair.

‘I think you’ll need this,’ Zoe said, suddenly remembering the placenta. She opened a chilled cart and pulled out the ice bucket into which she had put it. ‘It’s the placenta,’ she said, holding it out.

‘Thank you,’ the young man said in a thick Spanish accent, taking the bucket from her, and pulling the yellow biohazard bag from it.

‘No, no,’ Zoe waved her hand. ‘You can keep the bucket, I don’t think we need that back,’ she laughed, imagining if it wasn’t cleaned properly and was used on the next flight… 

‘So, where do you think his place of birth will be registered?’ the mother asked as they waved her off at the door.

The Captain stepped forward to answer her question. ‘Your son’s official place of birth will be,’ he made speech marks with his fingers, ‘‘in the air’, and his country of birth, since it is a UK registered aircraft, will be the United Kingdom,’ he smiled. The mother frowned as she thought about it. Zoe imagined the poor boy growing up having to explain his place of birth everywhere that he showed his passport. 

‘Any ideas on names?’ Zoe asked. 

The mother shook her head.

‘How about… Daniel,’ Zoe said, turning and grinning at her colleague. He smiled shyly back.

‘Oh, I like that,’ Joelle said, looking down at the bundle in her arms. ‘Daniel,’ she repeated softly.

**********

The next evening the captain ordered champagne to their table at dinner in Johannesburg, a change from their usual wine.

‘I’d like to raise a toast to all of you that were involved in the safe delivery of baby Daniel,’ he said, raising his glass.

Dan felt his cheeks flush. He still couldn’t believe that she had named the baby after him. As a gay man he was unlikely to ever have a child of his own, and yet there would always be a boy somewhere out there that carried his name… he certainly didn’t feel pointless anymore.

‘Daniel,’ he smiled, raising his glass with the others, little Daniel… 

Zoe smiled and raised her glass too, her thoughts a thousand miles away. Something had changed for her on that flight, and somehow she just knew nothing would be the same again… and it wasn’t…. Zoe left flying in XXXX and is now a fully qualified paramedic. She swapped her jump seat for an ambulance seat, and to date she has birthed sixteen more babies. While things are very different for her now, she still finds herself sharing stories with her colleagues over a cup of tea at 3am just like she did as crew… and you can be sure that the story of baby Daniel’s unusual arrival is one that comes up time, and time, and time again…