Flight Attendant Helps Deliver ‘Tiny’ Baby on Cross-Country Flight: ‘She Fit in the Palm of My Hand’ (Exclusive)

“I was having contractions and it woke me out of my sleep,” mom Shakeria Sullivan tells PEOPLE

Diana Giraldo was the lead flight attendant on a Frontier Airline red eye flight from Denver to Orlando on Jan. 16, 2022, when a female passenger called for assistance. The passenger, Shakeria Sullivan, then 27 and 7 months pregnant, was worried that she might be going into labor.

Giraldo, 36, thought back to her younger sister, who’s about the same age as Sullivan, and “tried to stay very focused and present in the moment, to make sure I was giving her my best,” recalls the flight attendant.

Other flight attendants made several announcements asking passengers who were experienced medical personnel to step forward and help, yet no one responded.

The next thing you know, I am in the bathroom at the back of the plane and I’m giving birth,” says Sullivan. A baby girl quickly emerged and Giraldo caught her. “It was relatively fast,” adds Giraldo.

“Shakeria and I looked at each other, astonished that this just happened,” recalls the flight attendant. “I was like, ‘Congratulations, you’re a mom!’ ”