Estimated read time: 3-4 minutes
This archived news story is available only for your personal, non-commercial use. Information in the story may be outdated or superseded by additional information. Reading or replaying the story in its archived form does not constitute a republication of the story.
SALT LAKE CITY -- A Salt Lake family received a special home delivery last week: a baby boy. But some pretty tense moments surrounded his quick birth in the bathroom. Luckily a neighbor came to the rescue.
Reed Hughes Millar has quite a story to go with his name, and he has Liz Hughes to thank.
"I'm honored, there's a connection there for life," Hughes said.
Reed's mom, Camilla Millar had called Liz to come over to her house and watch her children so she could go to the hospital.
"I hang up with her and was just two minutes later, I just had the most painful contraction ever," Camilla said.
When Liz got to the house, the children were waiting in the car and Reed was well on his way.
Hughes recalled, "I hear ‘Liz, get in here now!'"
Camilla said, "I just yelled to Liz, ‘I need you. I'm crowning.'"
Liz found Camilla on the bathroom floor on her hands and knees giving birth. Camilla remembered, "She just looked down to the bathroom, and I'm sure she was just in shock."
"Of course, I was like, ‘What do I do? What do I do?' I kept saying that over and over," Liz said.
Camilla had already been on the phone with paramedics and handed the phone to Liz.
"They were saying you need to get her on her back," Liz said.
To make things even more complicated, the baby had a prolapsed cord.
"He's purple, and there's a cord," Liz said. "This doesn't seem right."
While Camilla was inside the house giving birth and her children were outside waiting in the car, her husband was racing home from the hospital. He's a third-year surgical resident.
D Millard said, "I just have this sickening feeling inside. I know too much. I know my wife had had a C-section. She's at risk for a uterine rupture. She's home alone having a baby. Is she gonna bleed? Is the baby gonna be OK?"
Back at the house, Camilla is pushing, and Liz is pulling. Liz said, "I had no clue what to do, but she gave the best push ever. She was so with it and knew to push and knew that's what that baby needed."
Liz was able to pull Reed out in minutes, but he was blue and didn't appear to be breathing.
Camilla instructed Liz to get a syringe in the nursery and clear his mouth. Less than two minutes later paramedics, other neighbors and Dad all showed up.
"At this point, I'm in doctor mode," D said. "I have a blue baby. We run out to the ambulance, slap him a handful of times, put oxygen on him. He turns pink and just stares at me like, ‘Who are you?'"
Camilla says she can't believe she's one of those women who didn't make it to the hospital on time, but she's grateful she had a friend by her side to deliver her healthy baby boy.
E-mail: cmadsen@ksl.com
