When Tia Freeman's son Xavier is old enough to need a party icebreaker, he'll have an excellent one about his incredible resourceful mother and his impromptu water birth.

In a wildly popular Twitter thread shared Tuesday, Freeman – a member of the U.S. Air Force – shared her son's incredible birth story, which starts on a flight from the U.S. to Turkey and ends with an unexpected newborn.





She says she'd learned she was pregnant during her third trimester. With a March trip to Germany already booked, she decided to go for it:









Freeman says she developed severe cramps mid-flight, but assumed she was experiencing food poisoning brought on by her in-flight meal. By the time she arrived at customs for her overnight layover in Instanbul, Turkey, she says she suspected her pain was something more serious:

So naturally, she Googled her symptoms while waiting in line, but determined she couldn't be sure if she was in labor until her water broke. She says she decided to "get it together" and get to her hotel as soon as possible.

By the time she arrived, she says she was sure she was in labor, but was unsure who to call for help. Once again, she turned to the internet for help:

She filled her bathroom tub with warm water, grabbed a towel, and prepared herself for a water birth.





After timing her contractions, she began to push:

Soon after, she birthed her placenta, and then Googled the proper method for cutting an umbilical cord. She managed to do so using just a knife she'd packed in her luggage and two shoelaces she'd sanitized with boiling water from the hotel room's tea kettle. She says she cleaned up, breastfed her son, and went to sleep.

The following day, she went to the airport looking for guidance, and from there, her story gets even wilder. Though it's best read via Freeman's Twitter thread, we'll tell you that it involves concerned airport employees, officials from the local police and U.S. customs, a doctor, a nurse, and a scrum of Turkish press vying for photos of Freeman and her baby.

A quick spoiler: It all turns out totally fine.









Freeman tells The Independent that despite the unusual circumstances surrounding her son's birth, she's learned a lot from this experience.

"I learned how to be resourceful and calm under pressure," she told the Independent. "I was able to bond one on one with my son from his first breaths."

Follow Freeman's incredible full story in her original Twitter thread right here.











