Posted on 08/30/2014 8:58:10 PM PDT by nickcarraway
'I literally crossed my legs and tried to ignore the contractions. I willed the plane to hurry; I knew I couldn't hold on much longer'
With more than six weeks until my due date, I felt perfectly happy about flying from Ghana to London – it didn't cross my mind that the baby could come early. I had been living in Ghana for two years, but I wanted to give birth in the UK to avoid any problems with the baby's British citizenship.
I was booked into a hospital in the Scottish Borders. My husband, Duncan, would fly over to join me in time for the birth and my mum would look after our four-year-old daughter, Claire, during the labour. A few hours into the flight, I went to the toilet and saw to my horror that I was bleeding. I was worried that there was something wrong with the baby and pressed the alarm button.
A cabin attendant put a call out over the speaker system for any midwives or doctors on board. To my huge relief, a very friendly and calm Dutch doctor appeared. He had been working in the African bush delivering babies with no medical equipment – I couldn't have hoped for better support, especially as contractions had started.
(Excerpt) Read more at theguardian.com ...
No kidding, that is as good as it gets.
Glad she and the baby are OK. I thought the cutoff for flying when pregnant was 8 weeks to due date.
Nine Months after joining the Mile High Club?
As someone who has flown with my greatly pregnant wife (we had no choice) the cutoff date, if there is one, is not enforced.
There aren't set in stone cutoffs. There are only recommendations.
It might be now, but I flew at 6 weeks from delivery.....due to a death in the family.
So the child is now a citizen of whatever country she was flying over at the moment of delivery?
This story was 20 or more years ago. At the end she explained the daughter was grown now. Overall, the story was interesting, but was destined for a good outcome. Africa to UK is not that far, there was a maternity doctor on board, and she was sitting in first class. She told how the umbllical cord was cut, with an enourmous pair of scissors. No TSA back in the day.
That must have been terribly comfortable.
The Guardian is like the National Enquirer for stupid leftwing intellectuals. What a piece of dreck that newspaper has become. Did she blame America for the unexpected arrival?
Where did you read anything about America?
I thought it an innocuous, but heartwarming story, with a happy ending......especially since the now grown ‘baby’ used her airline money to pay a visit to her grandma.........very sweet
it was a sad journey......but it was bittersweet.....we were military and so I had a homecoming with my family.
Like the baby in the story, my daughter is now grown.....happy and healthy.
That’s one way to get a flight upgrade to first class!
It was my generic attack on The Guardian. Don’t you read CiF?
Not necessarily so, child is still a Brit because parents are. Especially if born in flight over a body of water which belongs to no country. Don’t think air space counts. If any thing dual citizenship would be issued.
Step Daughter was born in Japan in a US Navy hospital, she had a passport at 3 days old, a BC from the hospital, from Japan and US Embassy. It gave her dual citizenship until she reached her majority of 18. Both parents were US Citizens. At 18 she had to decide which country she wanted, wise girl she chose the USA.
I honestly don’t know what CiF is......so I guess the answer is ...no.
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