WARNING: Story contains explicit images of a medical procedure.
A Kentucky midwife did double duty on March 11 as she not only gave birth to her baby, but helped to deliver the baby as well.
Emily Dial of Lawrenceburg, Ky., welcomed her daughter Emma Kaye into the world at Frankfort Regional Medical Center with the help of two obstetricians, one of whom made the incision in Dial’s stomach and broke her water.
“It was a perfect moment. It was probably one of the most perfect moments of my life,” said Dial to People magazine. “I was in shock and awe. I really wasn’t thinking about my belly being wide open. I was just like, ‘Oh my God! This really is a girl.’”
Dial, who is a certified nurse-midwife, delivered her baby through C-section.
A C-section, or Caesarean section, is “an abdominal delivery in which a fetus is delivered via a surgical incision into the abdominal wall and the uterus,” according to WebMD.
A local paper in Kentucky, the Lexington Herald-Leader, wrote that Dial didn’t know the gender of the baby before the birth but was convinced she would be having a boy.
Dial and her husband have a four-year-old daughter. Their son, Grayson, died in 2012 due to a serious birth defect.
Grayson was only 10 days old.
But for the birth of Emma, who weighed in at seven pounds, 15 ounces, the delivery only took 10-15 minutes.
“I pulled my own baby out,” Dial said to People. “I had the [plastic] drape in front of my face, and trying to maintain sterile technique, I couldn’t kiss [Emma]. I just kept bringing her up to my face and looking at her, like, ‘I just want you in my arms so much.’”
The Lexington Herald-Leader writes that Dial was “scrubbed in for surgery” and wore gloves in order to help with the delivery.
Global News spoke to Dial’s sister, Sarah Wallace, who recorded the moment Dial helped to deliver Emma.
“She’s very overwhelmed and excited by what’s going on. Her platform is about having an enjoyable experience. She’s very humble. She’s great,” said Wallace of her sister.
“She is very self-sacrificing when it comes to her job… She loves what she does,” said Wallace.
Wallace also said that most of the excitement in the room during the delivery was when they found out the gender of the baby.
“The whole room was just alive, they were so excited. We didn’t know if Emma was going to be a boy or girl — we thought she was going to be a boy.”
Wallace said her sister, and the new baby, are both doing fine after the delivery.
“She’s great, her baby’s sleeping well,” said Wallace.
According to Wallace, Dial hopes other mothers see the great experience of childbirth, no matter how the baby enters the world.