One baby’s timing could be responsible for saving its life.
Maria Josefa Pingo Sanchez 20, had just been airlifted from a flooded village in northern Peru on Tuesday afternoon when her baby girl made her debut. Fifteen minutes from the hospital, baby Cielo, “sky” in Spanish, surprised everyone by being born inside the rescue helicopter.
Maria and her little lady were lucky. The floods in Peru have claimed the lives of 106 people and overall, more than a million people have been affected by the floods – including more than 361,981 children and 20,659 pregnant women.
Tenant Col. EP Edward Albuquerque Cordova, said Maria had been in labor for two days. A video, released by the Peruvian, showed an army medic helping her through contractions, delivering the baby and then checking the baby out after her arrival.
“It was time. She wanted to be born midair,” Pingo told Peruvian media at the hospital, grinning.
“She was in a precarious state of health,” Col. Albuquerque said, adding that the birth was unexpected by the crew but they “improvised”.
“It was the first time this happened to me, and the first time it happened in an army helicopter, and in the army in general.”
The mom and baby are doing well. On Thursday they received a visit from the rescue unit’s commander, Col. Javier Tryon, who brought her a gift.
Maria was so thankful to the Peruvian air force that she asked the unit commander to be baby Cielo’s godfather.
