Air delivery: Woman gives birth on flight without even knowing she was pregnant!
Honolulu, Hawaii - One woman surprised herself and fellow passengers when she went into labor en route to her vacation in Hawai'i. Not knowing she was expecting, Lavi Mounga was incredibly lucky to be assisted by not just a doctor onboard but three nurses specialized in premature babies!
The family of Lavinia "Lavi" Mounga will be coming home from their Hawaiian vacation with an extra souvenir.
Lavi was 29 weeks along when she went into labor halfway between her home in Utah and her destination of Honolulu.
Thankfully, there just happened to be a doctor, as well as three neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) specialist nurses heading out to their vacation when they were paged to help with a medical emergency.
Using a shoe lace to tie off the umbilical cord, microwaved water bottles for heating, the team delivered the premature baby three hours prior to arrival in Honolulu, directly over the Pacific Ocean. They used an Apple Watch to monitor the baby's vital signs until they landed and could hand him over to first responders.
Fellow passenger Julia Hansen said in a viral TikTok video series documenting the miracle that she was sitting next to the mother's parents on the flight and that not only did they NOT know their daughter Lavi was pregnant, as it turned out, Lavi didn't either!
It was a "cryptic pregnancy"
Lavi's sisters were also on the flight and shared their own series of clips answering the most common questions swarming the birth – like how did Lavi really not know she was expecting?
According to her sisters, they hit the gym with Lavi every day, and not only did she have no symptoms of pregnancy, she had no bulging belly to speak of.
The sisters shared that Lavi had a "cryptic pregnancy", and had she known she was pregnant, she would not have flown.
They said that they had not yet heard of their new nephew qualified for "unlimited flights for life", a tradition some airlines have for babies born mid-air, and that Delta Air Lines should reach out to them if that was on offer.
Lavi and her son Raymond Kaimana Wade Kobe Lavaki Mounga will be staying back in Hawaii until he was strong enough to leave. Even though the preemie is healthy and strong, he will most likely be in the hospital till the summer.
A GoFundMe for "Lavi's Airborn Baby" has raised about $10,000 towards medical costs and flights.
Cover photo: screenshot/GoFundMe/LavisAirbornBaby