'Miracle in the sky': Toronto doctor delivers baby girl mid-flight
A Toronto doctor's skills were put to the test last month when she was called upon to help perform a delivery on a transcontinental flight.
Dr. Aisha Khatib says she works well under pressure, so when the flight attendant on her Qatar Airways flight asked if there was a doctor on board, she wasted no time volunteering her skills.
The flight departed from Qatar on Dec. 7 and was bound for Uganda, where Khatib was travelling for work.
“It was about an hour into the flight,” Khatib told CTV News Toronto on Friday. “They basically asked if there was a doctor or medical personnel on board.”
Khatib, who works as the clinical director of travel medicine at MEDCAN and assistant professor with the Department of Family and Community Medicine at the University of Toronto, was directed to the back of the plane, where a woman appeared to be in labour.
“I saw this woman — she was lying with her head towards the aisle and her feet toward the window and the baby was coming,” she said.
Khatib says her training kicked into gear and she immediately began to help the woman.
“Someone threw me a pair of gloves and we had to lean over this woman to get this baby as it was coming out,” she said.
Khatib says she had to force herself into the small space between the window and the woman’s legs in order to access the delivery.
“I was right up against the window with mom pretty much straddling me as I'm trying to get enough blankets underneath to decrease the chance of having a mess,” she said.
“I was just thinking ‘I need clamps. I need scissors. If I don't have clamps, I’ll need shoelaces’ and just trying to figure out what to do with this situation if I didn't have the materials.”
Luckily, Khatib said the flight crew was equipped with a delivery kit, giving her access to birthing tools needed.
Aided by two other medical professionals flying that day — a nurse and a pediatrician — Khatib says she was able to deliver the baby girl in a healthy and safe manner.
“I was able to cut the cords, cut the umbilical cord. And check the baby over,” she said. “The baby was crying and had colour and so I gave her a good rubdown and passed her over to the pediatrician,” she said.
The successful delivery was met with a round of applause from onlooking travellers.
“Mom looked okay — she looked stable, so I was like, ‘Congratulations. It's a girl!’ and the whole plane just started clapping,” Khatib said.
“I had totally forgotten I was delivering a baby on a plane.”
Both the mother and baby were in good enough shape to continue for the remainder of the flight. They were moved to first-class and monitored for the remaining five hours, Khatib said.
In a tweet, Qatar Airways said they are "truly grateful for the incredible efforts" of Khatib and are glad to hear the mothe rand baby are doing well.
The mother, a Ugandan woman, decided to thank Khatib by naming the baby after the doctor.
“She named her Miracle Aisha,” Khatib said.
Khatib says she has kept up with the mother and baby, both of which she says are doing well in Uganda.
As a token to remember her by, Khatib left the baby girl with a small gift.
“I happened to be wearing a necklace of my name in Arabic at the time and so I gave it to her,” she said.
“I wanted her to know where she came from — delivered by a lady named Aisha as we flew over the Nile.”
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Spectacular aurora light show to be seen across Canada Friday night
A rare and severe solar storm is expected to bring spectacular displays of the northern lights, also known as aurora borealis, across much of Canada and parts of the United States on Friday night.
Town of Fort Nelson, B.C., ordered to evacuate due to wildfire
The entire town of Fort Nelson, B.C., as well as the nearby Fort Nelson First Nation, has been ordered to evacuate due to an out-of-control wildfire.
Bouchard lifts Edmonton Oilers to 4-3 overtime win over Canucks in Game 2
Evan Bouchard scored 5:38 into overtime and the Edmonton Oilers bounced back for a 4-3 win over the Vancouver Canucks in the second round of the Stanley Cup playoffs on Friday.
McGill University seeks emergency injunction to dismantle pro-Palestinian encampment
McGill University has filed a request for an injunction to have the pro-Palestinian encampment removed from its campus.
Which Canadian cities have the highest and lowest grocery prices?
Where you live plays a big factor in what you pay at the grocery store. And while it's no secret the same item may have a different price depending on the store, city or province, we wanted to see just how big the differences are, and why.
Swarm of 20,000 bees gather around woman’s car west of Toronto
A swarm of roughly 20,000 bees gathered around a woman’s car in the parking lot of Burlington Centre.
Video shows naked raccoon catching B.C. family by surprise
When Marvin Henschel spotted a strange and hairless creature wandering through a front lawn in B.C.'s Lower Mainland, he could barely believe his eyes.
Barron Trump declines to serve as an RNC delegate
Former U.S. President Donald Trump's youngest son, Barron Trump, has declined to serve as a delegate at this summer’s Republican National Convention, according to a senior Trump campaign adviser and a statement from Melania Trump's office.
Out-of-control wildfire prompts evacuation alert for Fort McMurray, Saprae Creek Estates Friday night
An evacuation alert was issued for two Wood Buffalo communities Friday night, as crews battled an out-of-control wildfire near Fort McMurray.