Recently, the whole country came together to celebrate the birth of a newborn en-route IndiGo’s Delhi-Bengaluru 6E 122 flight on Wednesday. But we can’t celebrate this news without celebrating Dr. Sailaja Vallabhaneni, who delivered the baby on the flight and stabilized the new mother.
As per Bangalore Times, Dr. Sailaja Vallabhaneni, Consultant Foetal Medicine, Cloudnine Group of Hospitals, Bengaluru, boarded an Indigo flight from Delhi to Bengaluru assuming that it would be an uneventful flight. While sharing the details of how she rescued the baby and his mom, she mentioned:Â
“We took off at 5.30 pm and in about 15 minutes, I heard someone call for a doctor. A gentleman, Dr. Nagaraj, a plastic surgeon from Riyadh walked up for help. Within the next 10 minutes, I could see a panic-stricken call from the crew members. I went up and introduced myself as a gynecologist.
They told me there was a lady, about 1.5 months pregnant, experiencing pain and discomfort. I thought maybe she was aborting because these are the most common symptoms at this gestational age and at a high altitude.”
The woman was in her 30s and covered with blankets so I could not ascertain her gestational age as per abdomen. I asked if she had any history of spotting or bleeding to which she said she had severe gastritis. Suddenly she winced loudly and said she wanted to use the bathroom. When she started walking towards the toilet, there was blood-stained liquid on the floor and I realized her water had broken.
But thanks to a pandemic, the doctor was already wearing gloves, a mask, and a face shield. Realizing the criticality of the situation, the doctor didn’t waste any moment and started making preparations to deliver the baby:
“Luckily due to the ongoing pandemic, I was wearing gloves, a mask, and a face shield on board. When I saw the condition of the woman in the bathroom, I knew she had gone into labor and the foetal head was coming out. That’s when I delivered the baby in the bathroom.
She pushed the baby with the placenta. I brought the baby with the placenta on cord and placed the baby on the crew’s serving table and then clamped the cord using a gauze (as cord clamps were not available). I cut the cord using scissors sterilized with a hand sanitizer.
After I took the baby in my arms, I realised the baby was born premature and was around 32-34 weeks. He weighed around 1.8 to 2 kgs. Fortunately the baby cried immediately after birth. I resuscitated him with the minimal equipment on board, wrapped him and handed him over to the crew.
After handing over the baby to the crew member, Dr. Sailaja made sure that she restores the health of the mother.
 Then I moved on to mother. She was passing clots and her uterus was relaxed. I massaged her uterus and it started contracting and the bleeding reduced. Then we moved her on the board and made her lie down, elevating her head, using co-passengers’ bags and seats. I found two injections in the medical kit that could prevent bleeding.
Dr. Nagaraj loaded the injections and I administered them to the mother. The uterus contracted well and the bleeding stopped. I ensured the baby was breastfed and that further helped the uterus to contract. The mother and child were doing well and when the pilot asked me if I would like the plane to take a detour to Hyderabad, which was 40 minutes closer to Bengaluru, I decided against it.
I was confident that the baby and the mother would be fine till we reached Bengaluru. The mother was extremely strong and cooperative and was excited that she had delivered a healthy baby boy.Â
At IFORHER, we are in awe of Dr. Sailaja Vallabhaneni, who conducted a 50-minute procedure to ensure a healthy delivery. Thank you, Doc!