Talk about a kid who's already going places.
Shortly after boarding a Spirit flight headed from Fort Lauderdale, Florida, to Dallas, Texas, Cristina Penton began feeling an unexpected sensation. That sensation was contractions and soon they began getting stronger and closer together. Penton was already the mother of two children, both of which she carried to full term. Fifty minutes later her water broke. Shortly after, she gave birth to a healthy baby boy. She was 36 weeks pregnant.
In a news conference on Tuesday, Penton explained to reporters that passengers and the cabin crew were just as shocked as she was. “Everybody kept telling me, ‘No, no, no, don’t push. Keep it in,’” Penton said, as noted by The Washington Post. From what she described, the entire ordeal sounded like something out of a movie. Flight attendants called on passengers, asking if there were any doctors or nurses on board. Luckily, a pediatrician and nurse came forward. Although the pediatrician hadn’t delivered a child for around 10 years. No matter: The baby was born before the flight made an emergency landing in New Orleans; roughly a two-hour flight.
AdvertisementADVERTISEMENT
“I think the thing that surprised me and others the most was the woman made no noise,” said a passenger, Marlene Cabrera to The Washington Post. “It was all quiet for about 20 minutes until you heard a baby crying, and then you heard people cheering and applauding. People on the plane were pretty good about it…I just think it was handled in such a positive way.”
The best part? The newborn, a 7-pound boy, named Christoph Lezcano, was given “free lifetime Spirit flights for Christoph and a guest on his birthday,” according to the news outlet.
“A baby being born during a flight is very rare,” said Spirit spokesman Paul Berry in a statement.
Read These Stories Next: