Video: Mom Pulls Newborn Out of C-Section With Her Own Two Hands
Warning: Some of the images in this article could be considered graphic in nature to some
Birth stories reveal the diverse experiences laboring mothers have as they welcome their babies into the world. Emily Dial’s children were all caesarean births.
Each child’s birth story is quite different with the last one being particularly healing and empowering for Dial. Her first C-section was surrounded by incredibly challenging circumstances.
As a midwife, Dial was no stranger to witnessing the incredible moment a mother catches her own baby. She had a difficult and important decision to make when she learned her first son, Grayson, would require immediate intervention after birth.
He had a congenital diaphragmatic hernia. Grayson’s lung growth was restricted as his bowel and liver herniated into his chest, and the left side of his diaphragm was missing.
Dial had an elective C-section in May 2012 at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital so that her baby wouldn’t need to be transferred following birth had she been induced at a different hospital. Grayson was 10 days old when he passed away.
On Sept. 9, 2013, her daughter, Ella, was born via C-section. With her third baby on the way, Dial was planning another C-section birth, but wanted to deliver her own baby this time.
Dial prepped for surgery, scrubbed in, and anxiously awaited the moment she would reach down to pull her baby out. The clear sterile screen covering Dial’s face didn’t stop her from experiencing an amazing bond with her baby the moment they saw each other face to face.
At 11:17 a.m., her baby girl, Emma Kaye Dial, was born. Dial was filled with love not only for her daughter but also from her hospital colleagues who made up her birth team as they surrounded her with loving support.
She told Love What Matters, “It was truly a full-circle moment. It was tying together the two things I love the most: my family and my career.”
Sarah Hill, Dial’s birth photographer, wrote on Facebook about her reflections after photographing Emma’s birth: “I have a new sense of how incredible we as women truly are…You’d be amazed at the amount of women that don’t know that YOU can control your birth and not just get told what to do.”
It’s difficult to watch Dial pulling baby Emma out with her own hands without tearing up right along with her! The incredible video shows how caesarean birth can look when a woman has a supportive birth team dedicated to a mother and baby-centric environment regardless of the type of birth.
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