Lisa Clinard was not due until September 5, she went in labor early

Aug 22, 2013 12:52 GMT  ·  By

A woman has given birth in mid-air, while she was being transported to the hospital via helicopter.

Lisa Clinard of Twentynine Palms, California delivered a healthy baby girl on July 31. She was not due until September 5 and she visited the Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Center hospital that very morning.

My Desert reported that her water broke and a helicopter was dispatched to get her to Loma Linda University Medical Center. The Marine Corps Staff Sergeant's wife never expected to give birth in the helicopter.

"At that point, they decided to bring in the helicopter, and I actually said 'OK, as long as I don't give birth in a helicopter' and they said that won't happen. We assumed we had plenty of time, and we did not," she says.

"The experience in itself was scary and painful and I was worried about her and what could’ve happened, but she’s doing great," she describes.

She had the baby in a Mercy Air 18 helicopter with a paramedic and a flight nurse aboard. She was given Percocet to ease her pain.

"We probably wouldn't be here if it wasn't for them. [...] A lot of people are like wow how cool she was born in a helicopter, but you know it really isn't as cool as it sounds. It was scary," Clinard adds.

It was the first on-flight birth that nurse Edgar Lampano assisted on, although she was trained to aid with the delivery.

"It was a very exciting experience, and I'm just glad to hear that the mom and baby are doing great," Lampano tells KMIR 6.

After delivering baby Courtney Rose, the new mother was rerouted to Desert Regional Medical Center in Palm Springs.

"Most of my friends miss their births because they're deployed. [...] I can at least say my daughter was born 6,000 feet (1,820 meters) in the air," father Josh Clinard says.