A young woman from Ecuador was left in shock when she went to the restroom on a flight after feeling an intense stomachache and promptly gave birth on her flight to Madrid.
Tamara, who did not know she was pregnant, was flying to Spain on a KLM flight with a connection in Amsterdam.
When she began having stomach pains and began to feel what we now know are contractions, the flight was still quite a few hours from landing in Holland. The pain made her go to the restroom on the flight, where she quickly – after two contractions alone – and in shock found herself holding her newborn baby in her arms.
While airlines have strict policies prohibiting women in their third trimester from flying due to the dangers of going into labor midair, Tamara was lucky to find that there were two doctors and a nurse on her flight who came to her aid. In fact, she named the baby after one of the doctors out of gratitude.
She and the newborn were immediately evacuated to the hospital upon landing in Amsterdam. According to KLM, the mother and baby are currently “doing well.”
“The team in the birthing department did everything possible to ensure that both received proper care and were on their way for the necessary paperwork for Maximiliano,” a spokesperson for the Spaarne Gasthuis Haarlem Zuid hospital told NL Times. “As soon as possible, Tamara and Maximiliano will travel on to Madrid.”