“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,” Albuquerque said, adding that the rescuers were not expecting Pingo to give birth before getting to a hospital, and that the birth was “improvised,” but the baby’s arrival brought joy to everyone in his crew.

 

“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,” Albuquerque said.

 

Pingo gave birth about 15 minutes before the helicopter reached its destination, a hospital in Chiclayo.

 

“What do we want the baby to be? A pilot, a soldier, or a commander? In any way, she is now a part of our family,” Albuquerque said, smiling widely.

 

Mother and baby are doing well and on Thursday received a visit from the rescue unit’s commander, Col. Javier Tryon, who brought her a gift. Pingo was so thankful to the Peruvian air force that she asked the unit commander to be baby Cielo’s godfather, state-run TV Peru reported. Tryon said that it’s the army’s commitment to keep helping the Peruvian people.

Peru’s Ministry of Foreign Trade and Tourism tweeted a photo of mother and daughter taken just minutes after the birth, with the caption “This is how hope is born.”

 

– CNN.com