‘It was divine intervention’: Midwife, first responders deliver baby at Hurricane Valley Fire station

Midwife Elizabeth Smith, in purple top, emergency responders and the Seegmiller family, Hurricane, Utah, Nov. 7, 2021 | Photo courtesy of Elizabeth Smith, St. George News

ST. GEORGE — Midwife Elizabeth Smith said she knew the situation was urgent when she got a call from an expectant mother on Sunday afternoon.

The expectant mother, Kenna Seegmiller, told Smith that she was trying to breathe through her contractions when she felt her water break. And, Smith added, she said she felt the urge to push.

“I asked her to get in the car, now,” Smith told St. George News.

Smith said she hoped Kenna could get to The Birth Sweet, at 375 E. Tabernacle Street in St. George, to deliver the baby. The trouble, Smith said, was that the Seegmillers were coming from Apple Valley.

“I knew they wouldn’t make it, so I asked them to meet us halfway,” Smith said.

As it turned out, the halfway point was the Texaco at 82 N. Coral Canyon Blvd, in Hurricane. When they met, Smith, a midwife with 36 years of experience, began looking for a way to deliver the baby out of the public eye.

File photo of the Washington City-Hurricane Valley Fire Station in Coral Canyon where the baby was born Nov. 7, 2021 | Photo by Mori Kessler, St. George News

“We were going to deliver the baby in the parking lot,” she said. “But then we saw a fire station across the road. The lights were on, so I asked my assistant, Rachel Morgan, to run over and see if we could deliver the baby in their parking lot. Instead, they invited us to pull the car into the bay.”

A good thing, too, Smith said. Though this would be the 1,690th baby she’d delivered, she didn’t expect the complications that were coming.

The delivery

Shirley Blackmore, a paramedic who has worked for the Hurricane Valley Fire District for two years, told St. George News that she and her team – Neal Cazier (paramedic), Corey Stens and Joel Keaweakuloa-Nakila (both EMTs) – were getting ready to settle in for the night.

“It was about 7:15 p.m.,” she said. “We were getting ready for bed. Then we heard a knock at the window.”

(L-R): Cory Stens, Neal Cazier, Shirley Blackmore and Joel Keaweakuloa-Nakila with baby, Hurricane, Utah, Nov. 7, 2021 | Photo courtesy of Elizabeth Smith, St. George News

Cazier, a paramedic with nearly 10 years of experience, greeted Morgan at the door.

“She was smiling, and she asked if we wanted to help deliver a baby,” Cazier told St George News. “I said, ‘We would.'”

Blackmore was putting on her shoes when Cazier returned to discuss the situation brewing outside. Blackmore invited Smith, Morgan, Kenna and her family, which included her husband, mom and children, into the bay at Station No. 46 to get them out of the weather.

“And,” Blackmore added, “so that we could deliver this baby in a more controlled environment.”

Once inside, the team got Seegmiller onto a gurney and began laying out the supplies they’d need for the birth.

Smith was expecting the delivery to be more or less normal. But that expectation expired early.

“I saw pretty quickly that the baby wasn’t going to come easy,” Smith said.

While the baby wasn’t overdue, she was a little more than 10 pounds. And, after her head had breached, Smith saw that the baby’s shoulder was lodged in the birth canal.

“It’s called shoulder dystocia,” Smith said. “Though I had experience with this kind of delivery before, nothing that I’d done in the past was working.”

“What I wound up using,” she continued, “was a technique I’d learned online six months ago.”

As Smith, emergency personnel and Seegemiller’s husband, Kurtis, tried to dislodge the baby’s shoulder, Blackmore said that the tension in the room became palpable.

“We were applying fundal pressure from above and below,” Blackmore said. “We knew that if we didn’t deliver the baby soon, she may die.”

Cazier monitored the baby’s heartbeat via doppler, and he was becoming increasingly concerned.

“The baby was a little distressed, and her pulse was low,” Cazier said. “If the baby’s pulse was low once more, I would have suggested that they go to the hospital.”

Then, Blackmore said, what they’d been trying to achieve finally happened.

“We got the baby out!” Blackmore said.

But the challenges weren’t behind them yet. The umbilical cord was wrapped around the baby’s neck, Smith said. The baby had a heartbeat, but she wasn’t breathing. After trying to stimulate the baby to breathe on her own, Smith and company sprung into action to resuscitate the baby.

“After she was born the baby was not breathing,” Kurtis Seegmiller told St. George News. “So, Liz and Rachel helped to get her breathing again. And the paramedics monitored her vitals and assuring she was stable.”

Everybody was relieved, Blackmore said, when the baby began crying.

“If a baby cries, it’s breathing,” said Blackmore, who’s helped deliver a number of babies in her 16 years of practicing emergency medicine.

“The delivery lasted from 7:15 p.m. to about 7:54 p.m.,” Blackmore added, “but it felt much longer. It was one of the most intense deliveries I’ve helped with.”

As Smith continued to work, she said that she kept thinking of how fortunate they all were that they had come to Station No. 46.

“I’m so grateful to the emergency responders,” she said. “Really, I think this was a case of divine intervention. If we had to deliver that baby in the car, she may not have survived.”

As of Tuesday, Kenna Seegmiller and the baby, whom they named Kimberly, are doing well. Kurtis Seegmiller said he’s thankful for everyone who helped his wife that evening.

“We believe that God sends angels to help us through life’s challenges,” Kurtis Seegmiller said. “And the firefighters, paramedics, and Liz and Rachel were some of our angels on the night of our daughter’s traumatic entrance into this world.”

Copyright St. George News, SaintGeorgeUtah.com LLC, 2021, all rights reserved.

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