Kendra Roden was 34 weeks pregnant when she boarded an American Airlines flight to the Dominican Republic.
Kendra was travelling with her sister on a little pre-baby holiday. The pregnant mum said that while she was asleep on the plane, she felt her baby kick, and then her water broke.
Within minutes, she was in full-blown labour and there simply wasn’t enough time to land the plane. Luckily there were several nurses on the flight who coached Kendra through the contractions and helped her safely deliver her son in the air.
The sky-high delivery was incredibly dramatic and Kendra opted for a perfectly suited name to capture the experience – Skylen.
Sky-high delivery
Kendra, who lives in Connecticut, admitted to the media that the birth was incredibly quick and unexpected.
“Everything just happened so fast, it just happened so quick,” she told CBS affiliate WFSB.
Skylen is a US citizen but his place of birth is not America or the Dominican Republic. Instead, his birth certificate documents his place of birth as “in the air”.
Once the airplane landed safely in the Dominican Republic, Skylen and Kendra were escorted off the plane in a wheelchair and to a nearby hospital. Skyen and Kendra remained overseas for a few weeks after being transported to a hospital.
Video captures baby born mid-flight
Kendra’s sister documented the entire experience on TikTok. “This is how my vacation is going,” she wrote alongside the video, which shows Kendra cradling her newborn son as the pair exits the plane. The video also thanks those who helped Kendra safely deliver her son 10,000 feet above the ground.
“We really appreciate you for all the hard work you did that day because we know how things really could have went left,” she said in the clip. “We know it’s not easy to deliver a baby on an airplane.”
We’re sure it’s not too easy to give birth on an airplane either! Congrats to Kendra and welcome Earthside (it’s much safer than up in the air), baby Skylen.
Even more perfectly suited baby names
We love when parents chose meaningful names for their little ones and when the entrance is extra dramatic, choosing a name that reflects this grand entry makes a great story for years and years to come and also cements the birth as pretty extraordinary. We’ve shared a few birth stories where the parents have selected an absolutely perfect name for the birth situation.
For example, a mum in Brisbane unexpectedly gave birth on the side of the highway en route to the hospital. Her little one simply couldn’t wait to get the hospital so she named her Patience. Because she didn’t have any. Clever, right?
In America, a mother found herself in labour at the Miami International Airport and gave birth in the restroom. She went with the name Mia for her little one. Like. MIA (Miami International Airport).
Next, we have a mum who gave birth in the middle of a category 5 hurricane in Miami. The mum went with Nayiri Storm for her daughter’s name.
We also met a family who happened to have the surname Frankenstein. And, as luck would have it, mum, Jessica Frankenstein gave birth to her son on, you guessed it, Halloween. Baby Oskar Grey Frankenstein was born October 31st.
Then we have a Michigan couple who welcomed their 14th son and named him Finley Sheboygan (like She’s a Boy Again). The couple thought they were having a girl but Surprise, Finley was another boy. Since Finley’s birth, the family has welcomed baby #15 – their first girl named Maggie Jayne.
