Airport staff celebrate special arrival

DUBLIN Airport staff had a very special welcome last week for a ten-year-old girl with a unique connection to Terminal 1.

Carey Ingwell was born in a bathroom in departures and has the honour of being the first baby born in the airport.

She made her surprise appearance into the world on February 25, 2008, when her mother went into labour after arriving on flight from the UK.

“I had no idea I was expecting,” said Carey’s mum Catherine Hutson.

“I was returning home to Bristol with my family after a weekend in Dublin city celebrating my father-in-law’s 70th birthday.

“I felt very unwell and to my complete surprise I proceeded to give birth to a baby girl in the cubicle on my own.

“My mother-in-law came looking for me and gave me her coat to wrap around Carey. She then called for help from airport staff. I really want to thank the airport’s emergency services for looking after us so well and getting us to the hospital quickly.”

Dublin Airport Fire Officer, Ciaran Foster, was part of the team assisting with the birth.

“We have attended to women who have unexpectedly gone into labour but this was the first birth we attended to. It was important for us to move very quickly to get mum and baby to hospital.

“I remember the look of shock on Carey’s father’s face when we told him he had a new baby daughter.

“We often wondered how Catherine and Carey were doing, so it was fantastic to meet them both again to personally recount the story of her birth.”

Dublin Airport Spokesperson, Siobhán O’Donnell, said Carey’s birth is something still remembered by all the staff there.

“We see most of life’s events happening at the airport, as people are travelling for a variety of happy and sad occasions, but this was our first birth at the airport and that was a very special event,” she added.

Carey and her family were originally scheduled to travel back to Dublin for her 10th birthday and Granddad, Tony’s 80th birthday celebrations at the of February. However flight disruptions as a result of Storm Emma meant their plans were postponed.

Carey was presented with a special cake by Dublin Airport to mark her arrival back to Terminal 1 and a voucher to spend in the airport’s retail shopping area, The Loop, on her return home to Bristol.