Baby delivered during flight to hospital in Alaska

KETCHIKAN, Alaska -- The term "airborne" took on a new meaning when a woman gave birth high above Southeast Alaska on a floatplane that was evacuating her after her labor began earlier then expected.

The baby girl was delivered safely to Jenifer Chinuhuk aboard a Pacific Airways floatplane Sunday. Isabelle Chinuhuk weighed in at 5 pounds, 9 ounces, and was 19 1/4 inches long.

"She's perfect," Chinuhuk, of Metlakatla, said Monday at Ketchikan General Hospital.

Jenifer and husband Jamie Chinuhuk had not expected the birth of Isabelle until mid-January, but when Jenifer's labor began on Dec. 26, a medical evacuation was arranged and she was brought to the Metlakatla dock by ambulance.

Two doctors were on the flight, but Jamie Chinuhuk had to stay behind because there was not enough room on the plane.

The child was born as the plane descended into Ketchikan.

"I heard the baby cry as I was starting to land," pilot Randy Sullivan said. "The doctor yelled, 'It's a girl!"'

Jamie Chinuhuk arrived later that afternoon, after pacing the dock waiting for the next Ketchikan-bound flight.

During his flight, he heard that Jenifer had given birth, but he didn't know the child was a girl until he walked into the hospital room and his wife said, "You missed her."

The new mother said the trip was the nicest flight she ever had and thanked Sullivan.