Paramedics help passenger give birth just before Delta flight lands

Please fasten your seat belt, make sure your tray table is upright and locked, and prepare for delivery.

A passenger on a Delta Air Lines flight from Atlanta gave birth to a healthy 8-pound baby girl just before the Boeing 737 touched down at Portland International Airport in Oregon on Friday night. Two paramedics on the flight assisted by borrowing blankets from other passengers and tying the umbilical cord with a shoelace.

Baby Brielle Renee Blair arrived nearly two weeks ahead of schedule; flight about 20 minutes.

Her mother, Ashley Blair, of Tennessee, was flying to Oregon to be with her own mother for the birth, but didn’t quite make it. She went into labor about a half hour from Portland.

One of the paramedics, Tina Fritz, told The Associated Press on Monday that she and fellow paramedic Kaarin Powell were returning home after vacationing in the Dominican Republic. They were helping a nurse attend to the medical needs of another passenger in the back of the plane when a flight attendant asked them to check on Blair.

They found that Blair was indeed in labor and contractions were approaching. It was a full flight with 153 passengers on board – soon to be 154 – so they began moving the passengers next to Blair into their seats to make room for the delivery.

They asked the flight attendants for blankets and a birthing bag, a sterile set of medical instruments used in emergency labor. Fritz said they had to improvise when neither was available.

They took blankets from other passengers and shoelaces from the flight attendant to tie the umbilical cord. Powell tore his own shoelaces to use as a tourniquet to start the IV.

Later, Fritz remembered his mother shouting: “Okay, it’s time. I have to push.”

While he was doing this, the flight attendants told Fritz and Powell that they needed to sit down because the plane was about to land.

“‘No! No!’ “We said,” he said.

Fritz said Blair was “doing super, really good pushes and the baby was coming out real quick.” “It was nice.”

Powell cut the umbilical cord and sat down while holding the baby. Fritz sat next to him and the wheels hit the track.

“The baby immediately turned pink,” Fritz said. “It was amazing. My mom was a rock star.”

After the plane started moving towards the jetway, they handed the baby over to Blair and everyone celebrated by taking photos.

A crew from Portland Airport Fire and Rescue said in an email to The Associated Press that “they found the mother and baby healthy and the new family was transported to a local hospital for observation.”

Delta said in a statement that the flight attendants were assisted by a doctor and two nurses, but Fritz said there was no doctor and the only nurse remained with the first sick passenger. Delta did not immediately respond to an email seeking comment.

“We offer our sincere thanks to the crew and medical volunteers on the ship who stepped in to provide care to a customer on board before landing in Portland. The health and safety of our customers is always our top priority, and we offer our best wishes to the new family,” Delta said in the statement.

Blair did not respond to messages from the AP. Fritz, who has been in contact with Blair since he was born, said he was a little overwhelmed by all the attention.

“I feel like we’re friends forever now,” Fritz said.

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Thiessen reported from Anchorage, Alaska.