Over the weekend, an Afgan woman delivered a baby girl aboard a plane full of 300 people, minutes after landing at a German base.
Captain Erin Brymer, a US army nurse, Major Kristin Blouin, an air force neonatal nurse, and Staff Sergeant Lamaar Melvin were summoned to help with the delivery ten minutes before the plane landed at the US Ramstein Air Base in Germany.
While the plane was sitting on the tarmac, the army personnel delivered the baby. Ms Brymer told reporters that the experience was the “coolest of my life” due to the unique circumstances.
The mother, whose name remains unknown, was sitting near the doors of the aircraft while four other Afghan women held up shawls to give her privacy.
Ms Brymer said the conditions on the plane played a role in inducing the woman’s pregnancy; she had not eaten or drank water. With that in mind, “I was just trying to make eye contact with her and let her know that everything was OK, that she can deliver this baby safely and that we were ready for her,” Ms Brymer said.
The nurse’s favourite moment was when the team was able to put the baby on the mom’s chest for breastfeeding.
The woman and baby were transported to a nearby hospital, according to air force officials.
According to General Steve Lyons, the head of US Transportation Command, two other babies have been born on the US Ramstein Air Base in Germany.
The plane left from the Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar. Since the US has announced its withdrawal from Afghanistan after occupying the country for 20 years, the Taliban took over the government on 14 August and 48,000 people have been evacuated. So far, 7,100 evacuees have arrived at the German base.
As chaos continues to erupt in Kabul, the capital of Afghanistan, Mr Biden announced he may extend evacuee withdrawals beyond the 31 August deadline.
