Thai woman gives birth to baby girl amid chaos of earthquake

By Juarawee Kittisilpa

BANGKOK (Reuters) - In the chaos of Friday's earthquake, a Thai woman gave birth to a baby girl on a rolling bed in a hospital as it was being evacuated.

The powerful 7.7 magnitude earthquake centred in Myanmar on Friday rattled buildings as far away as the Thai capital, Bangkok, leading to patients being evacuated to the ground floor and outside buildings for safety.

Kanthong Saenmuangshin, 36, had gone to hospital for a routine check-up but went into labour after the ground started shaking.

Kanthong's waters broke while she was being escorted by medical staff of the Police General Hospital down five flights of stairs, and she was worried she would give birth on the stairway.

"I was telling my baby, don't come out yet," Kanthong said on Saturday.

"Then I was put on a hospital bed and was surrounded by a lot of medical staffs where I just gave birth right then and there. It was all a shock to me too," she told Reuters.

At that time, her husband was at work and could not make it to the hospital in time for the birth.

Relief came when her daughter was finally born. The ground had stopped shaking and the sight of her brought Kanthong happiness.

She and her husband have given their baby a nickname, "Mink". They have not yet decided on her full official name but do not plan to give her any names related to the earthquake.

(Writing by Kay Johnson, Editing by Timothy Heritage)