Woman turns to Google, YouTube for help delivering her own baby

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ISTANBUL — If you search "crazy birth stories" in Google, this one is likely to pop up — an American woman turned to the search engine to help her deliver her own baby after she went into labor on a flight to Turkey.

Tia Freeman, 22, was traveling from Nashville to Germany to visit a friend in March when she began experiencing severe cramps, according to WKRN News. At first, she thought it might be food poisoning from the food served on the airplane. But when she got off the plane for a 17-hour layover in Istanbul, things went from bad to worse.

"I’m literally gripping the railing trying to make it through the lines. At this point, I feel like I’m about to pass out. I’m sweating. I feel like I have to vomit. I’m going through it," she told Fox2 News.

While standing in a long line at customs, Freeman realized the cramps could actually be labor — a daunting thought considering she wasn't due for weeks, didn't speak the language or know anyone in the country.

So she did the first thing that popped into her head — she asked Google for help, according to ABC News.

After a quick search for labor symptoms, Freeman realized she was, in fact, having her baby. So she hurried to her hotel room and tried to process.

The first video that popped up I was like, 'OK, this is what we will use.'

–Tia Freeman

“I was shocked but calm. I knew that panicking wouldn’t help in this situation,” she told ABC News. “I needed to figure out what my next step was.”

Once again, Freeman turned to the internet. She pulled up a YouTube video of a water birth and climbed into the hotel bathtub.

"I just literally type in, 'how to deliver a baby' and like the first video that popped up I was like, 'OK, this is what we will use,' " she told WKRN.

Using her iPhone to time her contractions, Freeman labored through intense pain until, after just a few pushes, her son was born. She used a sterilized knife and shoelace to cut and tie the umbilical cord.

"We just laid in bed, I went to sleep and that was how I delivered my baby," she told WKRN.

Freeman kept the birth a secret for a few days, and finally announced her son's surprise arrival in a Twitter post.

"Here he is Xavier Ata Freeman born March 7, 2018 in Istanbul, Turkey! My little surprise bundle of international joy!" she wrote.

Freeman did eventually take the baby to a hospital to be checked out, and ultimately got a clean bill of health before flying back to the states two weeks later, ABC News reported.

The baby's middle name, Freeman noted in the post, is Turkish, symbolic of the country where he made his surprise entrance into the world. Little Xavier will enjoy dual citizenship in the U.S. and Turkey until his 18th birthday, according to WKRN.