Northwest Airlines, for example, currently requires a note from a physician if a woman seeks to fly within one month of the due date. At the time Heilman flew, 34 weeks was the cutoff. Her daughter Katie, now 4, was delivered 400 miles from home by Caesarean section.
1 This may happen because the birds use their beak to probe for food in muddy wetland soil.  Most sandhill cranes live in freshwater wetlands, feeding on plants, grains, mice, snakes, insects, and worms. Sandhill cranes usually nest in wetlands and create a structure from whatever plants may be at hand. Females typically lay two eggs, which both parents incubate.
These cranes feed mainly on plants although they are omnivorous. In the summer grounds they feed on a range of plants including the roots of hellebore (Veratrum misae), seeds of Empetrum nigrum as well as small rodents (lemmings and voles), earthworms and fish.