Two years ago, flight attendant Diana Giraldo shared that she had assisted a mother during her unexpected labor on an overnight flight from Denver to Orlando. Now that mother is speaking out for the first time in an exclusive interview with PEOPLE.
Shakeria Sullivan was 27 years old, seven months pregnant, and worried she was going into labor on January 16, 2022, as she flew from Denver to Orlando, where she was moving to be closer to her mother. She called for assistance — and Giraldo, the lead flight attendant, was there to help.
“I was having contractions and it woke me out of my sleep,” Sullivan told PEOPLE. “I had to call for the flight attendant. And that’s when everything started happening so fast.”
Giraldo, 36, said she thought of her younger sister, who was about the same age as Sullivan, and “tried to stay very focused and present in the moment, to make sure I was giving her my best.”
Other flight attendants asked passengers if there was experienced medical personnel on board, but no one responded.
“The next thing you know, I am in the bathroom at the back of the plane and I’m giving birth,” said Sullivan. She gave birth to her daughter very quickly.
READ: Woman who didn’t know she was pregnant gives birth mid-flight
“It was relatively fast,” said Giraldo. She added, “Shakeria and I looked at each other, astonished that this just happened. I was like ‘Congratulations, you’re a mom!'”
Giraldo added, “The baby was tiny. She fit in the palm of my hand.”
But after a few moments, they realized the baby girl wasn’t breathing. Giraldo began “doing first aid on the baby” and had Shakeria put an oxygen mask on her.
Sullivan was terrified. “She was really stressed out,” said Giraldo. “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 apparent how that must feel.”
Forty minutes later, the plane was able to make an emergency landing at Pensacola International Airport where a medical team met the plan and brought Shakeria and the baby to the hospital.
Sullivan said she was “so relieved that everything worked out the way it did and that I had a good team of people by my side.”
Today, her daughter, Jadalyne Sky, is a happy and healthy two-and-a-half-year-old. “She’s doing great,” said Sullivan. “She has a very unique personality. I always say it’s like a grown up inside a little human being.”
Sullivan, mom to three other children ages 11, 9, and four, added, “She is very, very smart. And she loves to be outdoors.”
Giraldo has kept in touch with the family and sends Jadalyne gifts each year on her birthday and Christmas.
