36-year-old Kanthong Saenmuangshin gave birth in Bangkok hospital as a powerful 7.7-magnitude quake shook buildings and collapsed a skyscraper in the city, Focus reports.
The earthquake that hit Myanmar on Friday caused a mass evacuation of hospitals in Thailand, including in the capital Bangkok, but Kanthong was forced to give birth during the state of emergency.
The woman, who went to the hospital for a routine check-up, went into labor shortly after the tremors began. "They unexpectedly admitted me and I lay on the bed for a while. At first I didn't feel any pain, the doctor came to examine me and I said - no, I'm fine. And then I felt a strong wind swaying me, I had never felt anything like this before. Then I felt that I was going into labor. But the doctor had already started to evacuate me down the stairs,” Kantong said.
The medical staff took care of the woman and both her arms as they went down the stairs to safety. “The doctor kept saying that everything was fine. The hospital staff did a very good job of evacuating us, they did everything they could,” she said. The pain got worse as she went down, but soon after arriving at the lower floor, she was placed on a hospital bed and gave birth on the spot.
“I was telling my baby – don't come out yet. But the pain kept getting worse as I went down the stairs. Then they put me on a hospital bed and I was surrounded by a lot of medical staff, where I just gave birth right then and there. "It was all a shock to me too," the woman said.
Interestingly, the earthquake stopped shaking when her baby girl was born. "After my baby was born, the ground stopped shaking. I felt great, I saw my child and the earthquake stopped. I am so impressed and happy with the way the hospital took care of me," Kanthong Saenmuangshin added.
The newborn baby does not yet have an official name, as the parents decided not to give him a name related to the earthquake.
The 7.7-magnitude quake was among the strongest to hit Myanmar in the past century. It also caused tremors in Thailand, including the capital Bangkok. At least 17 people died, 32 were injured, and 83 are still missing after a 30-story skyscraper collapsed.