Fort Sam Houston, Texas (August 11, 2010) - Parents will always have vivid memories of the birth of their children. But for a young couple from Fort Sam Houston, the birth of their third child has been an adventure they will never forget.
Spc. David Dietrich, food service specialist, U.S. Army South, and his wife Hildie were planning on having a natural child birth, but "it was a little more natural than what I had planned on," said Hildie.
Shortly after midnight Hildie began to feel some uncomfortable pains which she thought were Braxton-Hicks contractions. She stepped into the bathtub to try easing the pain. After about 20 minutes Hildie realized that the contractions were real, so she called for David to time the contractions. They were nine minutes apart, so they got ready and go to the hospital.
When he got to the door, David noticed that Hildie was walking down the stairs fairly quickly. Once they made it outside Hildie felt a large contraction, so she stopped momentarily, leaning on the front of the car. This is when she realized that the baby was coming right away.
David saw that Hildie was leaning against the car and knew something was wrong. "I saw her go to the ground all of a sudden and began screaming for me to get our neighbor Sgt. Evans, who is a Combat Medic," said David. "My mother in law started to make calls to our neighbors and I got on the phone to try getting an ambulance."
When David's neighbor, Sgt. Dow Evans, Training Support Company, Camp Bullis, made it outside he was surprised by what he saw. "My first thought was that I wasn't ready for this," said Evans. "Before I went outside I thought that Hildie had fallen and needed some help."
Evans quickly ran to Hildie to check on her welfare then noticed that David was having some problems focusing on the phone call to emergency services. Evans asked David to comfort Hildie while he dealt with the phone call.
David knelt down next to Hildie while Evans coordinated for the ambulance. While he was comforting Hildie, David noticed that the baby was crowning. Evans began to talk David through the child birth. David got in position and applied some pressure to keep the baby from coming too fast. "As soon as I put my hands on his head the water broke and his head came out," said David.
Once he could see the neck area clearly, David noticed that the umbilical cord was wrapped around the baby's neck. "There was too much tension on the cord and I couldn't get it off," said David.
When she heard David explain the situation to Evans, Hildie immediately sat up and tried to help take it off. As a result of her sitting up, the baby was pushed out enough to create some slack on the cord.
Evans was able to talk David though taking the cord off the baby's neck. When the cord was off, David was able to complete the delivery. As soon as he was able to, David cleared the baby's mouth with his finger to help him start breathing. Once his mouth was cleared, the baby began to cry. "Once I heard him cry I knew he was going to be alright," said David.
It was 1:38 A.M. when Trenton David Dietrich made his memorable entrance into the world. He weighed in at 8 lbs 3 oz and was 20 inches long. "This is an experience I will never forget," said David.
"I was glad to see that both of them stayed so calm throughout the whole ordeal,' said Evans. David was quick to give all the credit to the training and experience he has received while he has been serving in the Army. "I felt like I did what I was supposed to do and focused on it despite the high level of stress I was feeling," said David. "I also know that I couldn't have done any of this if it wasn't for our wonderful neighbors who jumped in did all they could to help us out."
With so much happening in such a short amount of time, the family has been in awe of the whole situation. "It all feels like a dream to me," said Hildie. "Seems like this is something you would see on television." She went on to explain that it wasn't until she had Trenton in her arms when they were in the ambulance that she felt a sense of relief.
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