A flight attendant is sharing her wild tale of playing mid-air midwife, delivering a premature baby during a cross-country red eye.
On January 16, 2022, Diana Giraldo, the lead flight attendant on a Frontier Airlines red-eye flight from Denver to Orlando, responded to a call for assistance from a female passenger.
Shakeria Sullivan, 27, and seven months pregnant at the time, was concerned that she might be going into labor.
“I was having contractions and it woke me out of my sleep,” Sullivan recently told People. “I had to call for the flight attendant. And that’s when everything started happening so fast.”
The expectant mother, traveling alone, was relocating to Orlando to be nearer to her mother.
“She was worried that it was too early [to deliver] the baby,” Giraldo recalled. “She told me that she was terrified.”
Giraldo, 36, was reminded of her younger sister, around Sullivan’s age, and focused on being present to give her best. Despite several announcements from flight attendants for help from experienced medical personnel on board, no one stepped forward.
Giraldo stepped into action and helped Sullivan move to the back of the plane for more space and privacy.
“The next thing you know, I am in the bathroom at the back of the plane and I’m giving birth,” Sullivan quipped.
A baby girl made her grand entrance, and Giraldo caught her like a pro. The baby-delivering duo was shocked by how quickly it all went down.
“Shakeria and I looked at each other, astonished that this just happened,” the flight attendant recalled. “I was like, ‘Congratulations, you’re a mom!’ ”
The In Flight Baby Delivery Runs Into Turbulance
However, this in-flight delivery was due for some turbulence.
Giraldo wrapped the newborn in her jacket to protect her against the cold airplane cabin. However, she soon realized the baby wasn’t breathing.
With Sullivan too weak to walk, Giraldo carefully shuffled backward from the restroom to the galley, bearing Martin’s weight on her back. “As soon as she laid down, I started doing first aid on the baby. I told Shakeria to put the oxygen over the baby’s mouth,” Giraldo explained.
“The baby was tiny,” she wistfully recalled. “She fit in the palm of my hand.”
Of course, the new mother was beside herself over the situation.
“She was really stressed out,” Giraldo recalled. “To be in the position where you’re not sure whether or not your baby’s going to survive or not. I can’t imagine as a parent how that must feel.”
“She was incredibly brave,” Giraldo added of the young mother.
However, they didn’t have to wait for long. Just 40 minutes after giving birth, the plane made an emergency landing at Pensacola International Airport. A team of medical personnel swiftly transported the mother and child to the hospital.
Sullivan, now 29, is grateful for the quick thinking airline staff. “I am so relieved that everything worked out the way it did and that I had a good team of people by my side,” Sullivan said. “They did whatever they could to make me feel comfortable.”
Two and a half years later, Sullivan’s daughter Jadalyne Sky is a lively toddler with a unique personality, keeping her mom on her toes. Meanwhile, Giraldo stays in touch, sending birthday gifts and Christmas cards.