First woman to deliver a baby while freediving

First woman to deliver a baby while freediving

This was published as an April fool’s joke, on April 1st 2019. Please don’t get any funny ideas. Although fetal hemoglobin is real, delivering a baby any deeper than the bathtub would be dangerous, if not impossible.

The first true water-baby was born off the coast of Indonesia, where a woman delivered a baby girl at 10 m depth near Bali. The new mom, who wished to remain anonymous, was helped by a team of specialists including freedivers.

“Many people questioned my decision to deliver underwater”, the mom stated, “but I have been freediving all my life, so I knew my baby would be well received by the ocean. From there we just float up together and take such a special first breath”. Although her physician initially disapproved, he did realize that fetal hemoglobin has a higher oxygen affinity than normal hemoglobin, so the child would be protected from hypoxia.

HbA_vs_HbF_saturation_curve
Figure from Wikimedia.

The logistics of the birth were complicated, as the mom had to pull down to 10 m within a minute of her final push. “I had about 20 seconds in between contractions, so I knew I had to be down there before the final contraction. Everything went swimmingly, except that it was a bit awkward to swim up with the umbilical chord attached. We should have thought of that before.”

Both mom and daughter are healthy and happy. The delivery happened with her physician on scuba and several physicians stand-by on a boat.

Such a special day!

Jaap

Jaap is a geologist by trade and a freediver by passion. Jaap wrote the book Longer and Deeper in 2018. His book teaches how to train for freediving and spearfishing on land.

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