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Malaysia baby born on plane to go home healthy

(Agencies)
Updated: 2009-10-24 21:53

KUALA LUMPUR: A Malaysian woman who gave premature birth aboard a plane said Saturday that doctors are expected to release her son from a hospital Monday or Tuesday.

Liew Siaw Hsia had been flying home Wednesday after quitting her job as a waitress when she started having labor pains. A doctor on the flight helped her deliver while the plane was still 2,000 feet (600 meters) in the air.

She and the airline said she had been 27 weeks pregnant, 11 weeks short of the full term. The airline, AirAsia, said it would give Liew and her child free flights for life.

Liew told The Associated Press that doctors at a hospital outside Kuala Lumpur have told her they do not expect any health complications and she can take her baby home Monday or Tuesday. She said her boy's current weight was about 7 pounds (3.2 kilograms).

"I was worried about my baby, but now I'm happy," she said. "I never thought something like this would happen."

A hospital doctor declined to comment, saying it was not their policy to speak about patients.

A specialist on babies and children at a Kuala Lumpur private clinic said it was possible for a baby born at 27 weeks to be healthy and as heavy as Liew's. He asked that he and his clinic not be identified because Malaysian doctors are supposed to get health ministry approval before making statements to the media on public cases.

Liew, a 31-year-old divorcee, said she plans to raise the boy on her own in her home state of Sarawak on Borneo island.