Courtney Rose Clinard was so anxious to meet her parents that she entered her world five weeks prematurely, and while her mother was being flown to a hospital in a helicopter, to boot. The Desert Sun newspaper reports that Lisa Clinard of Twentynine Palms wasn’t expecting her daughter to be born until September 5, but on July 31, she went to the Naval hospital on the Marine base, and her water broke that evening. Due to her daughter’s imminent premature arrival, the Naval hospital staff put Lisa in a Mercy Air helicopter to fly her to Loma Linda hospital, but Courtney couldn’t wait to get to the hospital; she was born during the flight, with the help of a flight nurse and paramedic. According to the newspaper, Lisa’s husband, Staff Sergeant Josh Clinard, a Marine stationed at the Twentynine Palms Combat Center, was driving to Loma Linda to meet his wife, and missed the birth. After the birth, the helicopter was re-routed to Desert Hospital in Palm Springs where Courtney was placed in a neonatal unit. The Desert Sun says Courtney’s birth in a helicopter has resulted in a lot of red tape for her parents, who had to provide a statement from her doctor that Lisa was pregnant, a copy of the helicopter flight record, and a statement from the flight crew. Lisa told the newspaper, “The experience in itself was scary and painful and I was worried about her and what could’ve happened, but she’s doing great.”
