I still can\u2019t believe I\u2019m writing this. But so many people have asked me to tell the whole story that I finally sat down to do it, while my daughter sleeps on my chest.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
When I was 34 weeks pregnant, my dad had a massive heart attack.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
My mom called me at six in the morning, barely able to talk. Dad had collapsed in the parking lot of the grocery store near their house, three states away from us. The doctors weren\u2019t sure he\u2019d make it through the day.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I was an absolute wreck.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I knew stress was the last thing I needed that far into my pregnancy. My husband, Chris, kept reminding me, gently, every few hours. But there was no way I could just sit at home and wait for the phone to ring. If something happened to Dad and I hadn\u2019t seen him, I\u2019d never forgive myself.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
So Chris and I got on a plane.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Thank God, Dad pulled through.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He had two stents put in, and by the third day he was sitting up in bed complaining about the hospital Jell-O, which is how I knew he was going to be okay. My dad, Walt, is a retired mail carrier who has never once in his life stayed in bed past six. Watching him hooked up to monitors was one of the hardest things I\u2019ve ever done.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He kept telling the same story to every nurse who walked in. About how he\u2019d gone down in that parking lot and a stranger had dropped his groceries and started CPR right there on the asphalt. How the man had kept going for nine minutes until the ambulance came. How nobody had gotten his name.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cSome guy named Ray or Ramon or something,\u201d Dad said. \u201cMy heart stopped, and he wouldn\u2019t let it stay stopped. And I never even got to shake his hand.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The hospital had tried to find him. So had my mom. But the man had disappeared into the crowd once the paramedics took over, and nobody had thought to ask.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
After a few days, Dad was stable, and Chris and I headed home so I could rest and get ready for the baby.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
My doctor had cleared me to fly. My pregnancy had gone smoothly from day one. I figured we\u2019d be fine.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Boy, was I wrong.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
About an hour into our flight, I started feeling sick. I thought it was nerves, or the turbulence, or the airport pretzels.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Then came the contractions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
At first they were just tightening. Then they were pain. Then they were coming every few minutes and getting stronger fast, and I grabbed Chris\u2019s arm so hard he yelped.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Chris called a flight attendant, who took one look at me and went straight to the intercom.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cLadies and gentlemen, if there are any medical professionals on board, please press your call button.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A man from about ten rows back stood up immediately. He was in his forties, in a gray hoodie and jeans, with kind eyes and a calm voice.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI\u2019m Ramon,\u201d he said, kneeling in the aisle beside my seat. \u201cI\u2019m a paramedic. Eighteen years. You\u2019re going to be okay.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He asked me a few questions. He timed a contraction with his watch. Then he looked up at me very calmly and said:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cMa\u2019am, I think you\u2019re in labor.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
What?!<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I still had six weeks to go!<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The pilots arranged an emergency landing at the nearest airport. The flight attendants cleared the rows around us and brought every blanket on the plane. Somebody\u2019s grandmother handed over a bottle of hand sanitizer and a pack of baby wipes from her purse.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But apparently, my daughter had other plans.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Everything after that is a blur. I remember Ramon\u2019s voice, steady the whole time, telling me when to breathe and when to push. I remember Chris holding my hand, white as a sheet, looking like he might pass out himself. I remember a flight attendant kneeling behind my head, stroking my hair.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And then I heard her cry.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Our little girl was born at 35,000 feet.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ramon wrapped her in a clean white blanket and laid her on my chest, and the whole cabin burst into applause. People were crying. Chris was crying. I was crying. I think even Ramon was crying a little.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
She was small, but she was pink and loud and perfect.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Chris pulled out his phone, connected to the plane Wi-Fi, and sent a photo to our family group chat: me, the baby, and Ramon grinning beside us in the aisle. \u201cShe\u2019s here!!! Born on the plane!! A paramedic named Ramon delivered her!!!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
For the next little while, all I could think about was getting us safely to the hospital.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Then, as we started our descent, the captain came over the speakers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
At first, it sounded like a routine landing announcement. Seatbelts. Tray tables. An ambulance waiting at the gate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But then he paused, and when he continued, his voice had changed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cLadies and gentlemen, there\u2019s something important the mother needs to know before we open the doors.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
My stomach dropped.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Was something wrong with the baby? Had they seen something I hadn\u2019t? I clutched her tighter and looked at Ramon, but he looked just as confused as I was.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The captain cleared his throat.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cAbout twenty minutes ago, our airline\u2019s operations center received a phone call from a hospital in another state. From a man named Walt, who I\u2019m told is the new grandfather.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Chris and I stared at each other.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWalt saw a photo his son-in-law sent from this flight. And he asked us to pass along a message, because he says he\u2019s been trying to find someone for a week.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Another pause.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cSix days ago, Walt had a heart attack in a grocery store parking lot. His heart stopped. A stranger performed CPR on him for nine minutes and kept him alive until the ambulance came. Then that stranger walked away before anyone could thank him.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The cabin had gone completely silent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWalt recognized the man in the photo,\u201d the captain said. \u201cThe mother needs to know that the man who just delivered her daughter is the same man who saved her father\u2019s life.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I turned my head slowly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ramon was still kneeling in the aisle. His mouth was open. He had both hands over his face.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe parking lot,\u201d he said through his fingers. \u201cThe guy by the shopping carts. That was your dad?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I couldn\u2019t even answer. I just nodded, over and over, sobbing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ramon told us later that he\u2019d been in my parents\u2019 town visiting his sister. He\u2019d been loading groceries into her car when he saw an older man go down three spaces away. He did what he\u2019s trained to do. When the ambulance pulled in, he handed off to the crew, and then he just stood there shaking for a while, and his sister drove him home.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI called the hospital the next day,\u201d he said. \u201cBut they couldn\u2019t tell me anything because I wasn\u2019t family. I didn\u2019t even know if he\u2019d made it. I\u2019ve been thinking about him every single day.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He\u2019d been flying home on the very same flight we were. Ten rows back. By pure chance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Except I don\u2019t believe it was chance anymore.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The captain came back on one more time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWalt asked me to say one more thing. He says: \u2018Ramon, you gave me my life, and now you gave me my granddaughter. I\u2019d like to shake your hand now.’\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The whole plane erupted. People were standing up in their seats clapping. A flight attendant was openly weeping in the galley. The grandmother with the baby wipes reached across the aisle and squeezed Ramon\u2019s shoulder.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
When the doors opened, the paramedics came on first and checked the baby and me. We were both fine. She weighed four pounds, fifteen ounces, and the neonatal team said her lungs were stronger than they had any right to be at 34 weeks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ramon rode to the hospital with us. He wouldn\u2019t leave until the doctors told him we were safe.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
That night, from his own hospital bed three states away, my dad called Ramon on video. I watched the two of them on my phone screen. Neither one of them could talk for a full minute. My dad, who I have seen cry exactly twice in my life, just kept saying, \u201cThank you. Thank you. Thank you.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ramon kept saying, \u201cI\u2019m so glad you\u2019re okay.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Two weeks later, once Dad was cleared to travel and our daughter was home from the NICU, Ramon came over for dinner. My parents drove in. Dad walked straight up to him at the front door and, instead of shaking his hand, pulled him into a hug that lasted so long Chris finally went and started the grill without them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
We named our daughter Grace.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Her middle name is Ramona.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
When I told Ramon, he laughed and said she\u2019d hate it in middle school. Then he went out to his car and sat there for ten minutes before he came back in.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He\u2019s her godfather now. He\u2019s come to every checkup he could. He sends my dad a text every Sunday morning that just says, \u201cStill ticking?\u201d And every Sunday morning, Dad texts back a heart emoji. The anatomically correct one. He thinks it\u2019s hilarious.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
People keep asking me what it was like to give birth at 35,000 feet.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Honestly? The birth was the easy part to explain.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The hard part is explaining how one stranger ended up in the two most important moments of my family\u2019s life, a week apart, three states away, without ever knowing it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
My dad has an answer for that. He says some people are just put where they\u2019re needed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I used to think that was something people said at funerals.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Now I\u2019ve got a four-pound, fifteen-ounce reason to believe it.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
I still can\u2019t believe I\u2019m writing this. But so many people have asked me to tell the whole story that I finally sat down to do it, while my daughter sleeps on my chest. When I was 34 weeks pregnant, my dad had a massive heart attack. My mom called me at six in the …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":25655,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-25654","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cehre.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25654","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cehre.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cehre.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cehre.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cehre.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=25654"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/cehre.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25654\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":25656,"href":"https:\/\/cehre.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25654\/revisions\/25656"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cehre.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/25655"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cehre.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=25654"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cehre.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=25654"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cehre.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=25654"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}