A woman gave birth to a baby boy at 30,000 feet aboard a Southwest Airlines flight from Chicago that had to be diverted to Denver International Airport on Friday
Flight 441 was about 90 miles north of Denver when a female passenger began going into labor.
Another passenger, Katherine Williams, said she thought something was happening on the plane, but wasn't sure of what to make of the noises she heard coming from behind her.
A doctor and two nurses on the plane delivered the baby on the floor near the rear of the aircraft with the help of Southwest Airline's medical service on the radio.
"We looked around for strings," said Dr. John Saran, who helped deliver the baby. "So I pulled my shoe strings out of my shoes, so that baby is walking around with my shoe strings around its umbilical cord." Saran has an internal medical practice in Chicago.
"They laid her in the back on the floor and about 15 minutes later they got on the PA and announced that we have a new passenger, a baby boy," passenger Brandon Morse told Denver NBC station KUSA-TV. The announcement was greeted by applause in the cabin, Morse said.
"They were making jobes about calling it "Southwest" or "Westin" or something like that. It was a darling family," Williams said.
An ambulance met the plane at the airport and mom and baby are said to be fine.
The flight originated in Columbus, Ohio with scheduled stops at Midway, Salt Lake City and Boise, Idaho, and was scheduled to end service at Spokane, Wash., according to FlightAware.com.
