I was so excited to be going to Karlee’s birth! It was her 5th baby, and she was planning an unassisted delivery with my friend, Jana Hasson, as her birth keeper. Her last birth was less than two hours long, so I knew I would have to be super fast getting to her when the call came. I was about 46 minutes from her home in Rush Valley (just South of Tooele) here in West Lehi.
I was working away on my computer one evening when I got the call from Jana. Karlee’s water had broken, she wasn’t having contractions before, but Jana was heading over. I hesitated to leave so soon with labor not having started, but I knew if this was it, we had to hurry. I quickly packed up and was on my way. I was about halfway there when Jana called me. The baby had been born in Karlee’s bathtub; no one had made it, not even her husband! Karlee was concerned about the baby’s breathing, so they called 911, just in case. When I arrived, there were two ambulances, three police cars, and several paramedics and police officers. It was a sight to see in the dark rural night!
Luckily mom and baby were both ok; they gave sweet baby Mila some oxygen just to be safe, then went packing on their way. I stayed for a couple of hours documenting the story after I arrived for Mila’s sweet and exciting first few hours of life. Fast births like this don’t happen very often and definitely have their challenges for everyone!
