Tia Freeman, a 22-year-old Air Force computer specialist, gives new meaning to the phrase warrior spirit.
Freeman was all booked and ready to embark on her trip to Germany to visit her friend.
Denying she was pregnant, she got on a plane for a 17-hour flight to Istanbul – her layover stop. It was there she began feeling intense abdomen pain. She attributed it food poisoning. “I just knew I had food poisoning. Y’all I was HURT,” she posted on Twitter.
Tia Freeman and baby Xavier…Haber, Haberler
Managing to make it to her hotel room, Freeman realized her only option would be to give birth right then and there. With no knowledge of the emergency number in the country and not encountering anyone who spoke English, she quickly searched on YouTube for tutorials on having a baby.
“I decided to just have the baby at my hotel,” she explained.
Freeman began pushing once her contractions started arriving one minute apart. Her son, Xavier arrived. Then came time to cut the umbilical cord. She used sterilized shoestrings and a knife and cut. Xavier was in a warm bath and covered with a bath towel provided by the hotel – the only essentials Freeman could collect before his birth.
After breastfeeding Xavier, mom and son fell asleep.
As the mother and son tried to depart Istanbul, Freeman was told she would have to present documentation. ” the airport workers are freaking out bc you can tell this baby is fresh. I legit didn’t have any baby clothes & made him something out of my favorite blue oversized button down (RIP ). Anyway they thought I was a human trafficker trying to smuggle out a baby, she posted on Twitter.”
Tia Freeman and baby Xavier (middle)…Twitter
“So they called in customs, the police, a doctor & a nurse (to check the baby & me to see if I actually gave birth), and the airline higher ups. I was bombarded with questions (naturally) but finally I proved that I wasn’t a trafficker,” she explained further.
In the process of proving the aforementioned, Freeman contacted the United States Embassy.
Finally getting the opportunity to visit the doctor, Freeman and Xavier were deemed healthy.
Here is Freeman’s own account, documented on Twitter:
So anyway I make it until we land but when I wake up the cramps have gotten worse and I’m like okay I just want to make it to my hotel. Its my layover and I’m only here (Istanbul, Turkey) for 17hrs. But getting through customs took FOREVVVVVVVERRRRR pic.twitter.com/VUFDhyrCR1
— Tia Freeman (@TheWittleDemon) April 24, 2018
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. Then I’m like wait a minute bitch are you in labor?!!! pic.twitter.com/p6SMEfunP0
— Tia Freeman (@TheWittleDemon) April 24, 2018
So my ass decides to google it. The internet was like well my good sis the only thing different between labor and Braxton Hicks is your water breaking. This was completely not helpful so now I gotta wait until then to knownif this is legit or not. pic.twitter.com/fzXPGcDtV0
— Tia Freeman (@TheWittleDemon) April 24, 2018
Either way it goes I’m not giving birth in this airport so I start gassing myself up bc I am NOT having a baby in this airport. I start talking to myself like Bitch what you’re not gonna do is give birth on the airport floor. So you need to get it together & make it to your hotel pic.twitter.com/Ywjk9fmsaD
— Tia Freeman (@TheWittleDemon) April 24, 2018
I make it to my hotel & now I’m sure I’m in labor. There is no way in the world I’m not in labor because I can barely standup at this point. So I’m in a foreign country, where no one speaks english, I don’t know this country’s emergency number, & I have no clue what to do. pic.twitter.com/sk6k10zdu5
— Tia Freeman (@TheWittleDemon) April 24, 2018
So in true millennial form I decided to @Youtube it ??. If no one else had my back the internet would! So here my ass is in my hotel room all by my lonesome learning how to deliver my own baby pic.twitter.com/v13ZhF6O8h
— Tia Freeman (@TheWittleDemon) April 24, 2018
So yo it’s GAME TIME. I don’t have time to be nervous. It’s time to get shit done. I spring into action. Filling up the tub with warm water #WaterBirth, grabbing a towel to bite down on, grabbing another towel to wrap him/her up with whenever it pops out pic.twitter.com/PVu2SWLCiG
— Tia Freeman (@TheWittleDemon) April 24, 2018
It’s weird how focused a person becomes when they’re adrenaline starts going. Because at no point ever did I freak out. Like I just did what I had to do.
— Tia Freeman (@TheWittleDemon) April 24, 2018
So the internet said I shouldn’t start pushing until my contractions where 2mins apart. Bc you don’t want to exhaust yourself too early and then not have any energy when the kids ready to come, you know? And I’m like okay bitch you’ve got a timer on your phone. You can do this! pic.twitter.com/QSi7iJ4vAx
— Tia Freeman (@TheWittleDemon) April 24, 2018
My contractions were already at a minute a part lol I was late as hell. I BARELY made it to my room. ??? so I throw the towel in my mouth and start pushing. And I have NEVVVVEEERRRR felt any pain like this in my life. I felt like I was being split open. WHERE WAS MY EPIDURAL?! pic.twitter.com/HGlootcNHu
— Tia Freeman (@TheWittleDemon) April 24, 2018
Luckily it happened pretty quickly. I only had to push about 5-6x before a baby popped out. Lol now let me tell you babies are buoyant. That little joker said bloop and floated right on up to the top of the water ?? pic.twitter.com/IuqwKXFb2L
— Tia Freeman (@TheWittleDemon) April 24, 2018
At this point I have no clue what the sex of the baby is so after catching my breath I lift it up like “What is it?” pic.twitter.com/dMUwCDO58X
— Tia Freeman (@TheWittleDemon) April 24, 2018
Also Side Note: #WaterBirths are not as pretty as what you see on @YouTube there was no tranquil, hippie music playing gently in the back ground, or amazing natural lighting. It gets MESSY. pic.twitter.com/Igv5g6i7C4
— Tia Freeman (@TheWittleDemon) April 24, 2018
Anyways ITS A BOYYYYYYYYY!!!!!!! And the very first thing I do is pull up his natal chart ??? born March 7, 2018 in Istanbul Turkey ?? pic.twitter.com/UPrhMBzLSu
— Tia Freeman (@TheWittleDemon) April 24, 2018
Lol the story isn’t over yet ? he’s out but the placenta is still inside of me. Now according to the internet you’re not supposed to pull it out bc it has to seal itself back up or something idk lol.
— Tia Freeman (@TheWittleDemon) April 24, 2018
Can I just say that walking around with the umbilical cord hanging out of me totally gave me the impression of what it would be like to have a penis. ??? pic.twitter.com/Dicpn2ljSq
— Tia Freeman (@TheWittleDemon) April 24, 2018
So finally it feels like I’m having another contraction and I assume this is the placenta ready to drop it like it’s hot. So I shuffle to the bathroom and sit down on the toilet because idk where else to go ??? pic.twitter.com/UpGTANtLnh
— Tia Freeman (@TheWittleDemon) April 24, 2018
Almost immediately as I sit down it plops out. The hotel had these sanitation baggies in the bathroom so I just picked it up by the cord and dropped it in the bag. Now it’s still attached to him so now I’ve got to google how to cut an umbilical cord. pic.twitter.com/urJHrIu9mN
— Tia Freeman (@TheWittleDemon) April 24, 2018
So I didn’t have any clamps like it suggested but what I did have were shoelaces lol. Hear me out ?. In Turkey everyone drinks tea/coffee so every hotel room had an electric kettle. So I just boiled some water to sterilize the laces so that I could use them as clamps. pic.twitter.com/2vObBQz6eu
— Tia Freeman (@TheWittleDemon) April 25, 2018
And everyone knows that ya girl stays strapped ?. I don’t go anyyyyyyyywhere without my knives. And because of this I’ll probably never go anywhere without them again. pic.twitter.com/vAbCZ6bb1K
— Tia Freeman (@TheWittleDemon) April 25, 2018
Okay so it’s been a second so I may be a little iffy on the exact details but it went something like this. You’re supposed to measure off like 2inches from the stomach and tie one lace and then tie the other inch another inch from there. Now you cut the cord in between. pic.twitter.com/t3EzOHmro2
— Tia Freeman (@TheWittleDemon) April 25, 2018
Now I haven’t been nervous this whole time but cuttingbthis cord is freaking me out lmao like what if I hurt this man?! So I’m poking the cord with the knife to see if it affects him. pic.twitter.com/mkmQfKP7S2
— Tia Freeman (@TheWittleDemon) April 25, 2018
Fortunately it doesn’t (which the internet said it wouldn’) so I cut right into that thang! And it’s tougher than it looks lol pic.twitter.com/dRXfpwuesa
— Tia Freeman (@TheWittleDemon) April 25, 2018
Umbilical cord cut and I did a mighty fine job if I do say so myself ?! At this point exhaustion is beginning to set in. But I need to clean up the bathroom because it looked like the set of a horror movie pic.twitter.com/DyvlwXXeQ2
— Tia Freeman (@TheWittleDemon) April 25, 2018
So I clean up the bathroom, breastfeed my baby, and go to sleep. No I do not go to the hospital I take my ass to bed. ?? so the next day I wake up for and get ready to go to the airport because I already paid for the cab the night before & even though I knew I couldn’t fly out
— Tia Freeman (@TheWittleDemon) April 25, 2018
I didn’t know what I would need to leave the country with a newborn baby and I thought no better place to ask than the airport. pic.twitter.com/wTEhjfoIqC
— Tia Freeman (@TheWittleDemon) April 25, 2018
When I get there the airport workers are freaking out bc you can tell this baby is fresh. I legit didn’t have any baby clothes & made him something out of my favorite blue oversized button down (RIP ?). Anyway they thought I was a human trafficker trying to smuggle out a baby. pic.twitter.com/dc0BCDv75J
— Tia Freeman (@TheWittleDemon) April 25, 2018
So they called in customs, the police, a doctor & a nurse (to check the baby & me to see if I actually gave birth), and the airline higher ups. I was bombarded with questions (naturally) but finally I proved that I wasn’t a trafficker. During this I called the @USEmbassyTurkey. pic.twitter.com/HH9zQybcHB
— Tia Freeman (@TheWittleDemon) April 25, 2018
Anyway there’s a knocked on the room that I’m in an someone comes in and says “they want to take your picture.” I’m thinking this was a part of the investigation. It was not lol. I walk out and there are press EVERYWHERE!!! pic.twitter.com/YdCSC4U1U9
— Tia Freeman (@TheWittleDemon) April 25, 2018
