At approximately six hours into a China Airlines Flight from Taiwan en route to Los Angeles last week, a pregnant woman informed the crew that her water broke.
The pilot diverted the flight path to Anchorage, Alaska, while the crew asked if there was a doctor on board. Dr. Angelica Zen, a UCLA Internist who had never delivered a baby before, stepped forward. She was on her way home from her honeymoon.
“My training is in internal medicine pediatrics so we do adults and kids but really no pregnant woman at all, so since my training we haven’t done much OBGYN,” Zen told ABC News. “I was a little bit nervous.”
Zen spoke Mandarin and was able to communicate with the baby’s mother, who informed Zen that she was delivering 2 months early. Then, at 30,000 feet in the air, Zen delivered the little bundle of joy 30 minutes before the plane landed.
“I had very limited supplies with me and it was very difficult,” saidZen. “We had to work under very constrained circumstances.”
Passenger Edmund Chen, who filmed the happy occasion, called the event an “amazing experience.” Chen gave his footage toCNN, which can be seen in their news report, here:
Zen said that the crew was incredible and video of the delivery shows a stewardess crying after the little girl was born.
“I was relieved the baby looked very healthy,” Zen said. “And I was very happy for the mom as well.”
