This Boelter Family: Vivienne Marie, Welcome to This Boelter Family!

So by now you've heard that Vivienne Marie Boelter was born on Monday, November 22, but you may not have heard the crazy story of how!

Monday morning Amy was three days overdue, but there was really no change in her condition, so I went to work. It was snowing, but it didn't seem too bad, and I planned to come home early in case traffic was bad (little did I know it would be so bad that some of my coworkers spent 6 or even 9 hours on the bus on the way home that day!). Amy emailed at around 3pm to tell me that she was pretty sure she had had her second contraction. I finished up what I was working on and ran out the door. I jumped in a cab in front of my office building so I jumped in. He tried to dump me before we got out of downtown for a more convenient fare, but I convinced him (with my wallet) to get me home ASAP.

When I got home a mere 40 minutes later, Amy was deep in the throes of labor in our bedroom. She had called our midwife, Traci, but she was stuck in the snow traffic (her ETA was an hour away). Amy had almost no time between contractions at all, and they were really intense; she was trying not to start pushing until the midwife could get there. Grandma Nancy and Aunt Rebecca were hanging out with Louis in the front room. I kept trying to get Traci on the phone, but I didn't get through to her right after Amy's water broke. She told me to call 911, so I kept her on the line on my phone and called 911 with Amy's phone (one on each ear).

Once they told me an ambulance was on the way, I hung up and put Traci on speakerphone. She told us it was okay to start pushing; I was going to have to deliver this kid myself. Within a few pushes, the baby's head was out, but wasn't coming out more. Traci asked me to try to feel if the cord was wrapped around the baby's neck, and sure enough, it was. She told me to try to get a finger under it and loop it over the baby's head. I tried, but it was tight, and it broke almost immediately. I caught the baby as she came shooting out. Traci told me to try to pinch both ends of the cord closed to minimize blood loss.

I did, and almost seconds later, the EMTs (firefighters, actually, I think) came rushing into the room. They helped clamp the cord, get the baby into a blanket, and clear her mouth and nose. She was pretty blue in the face, but she writhed and let out a holler. We got her onto Mommy's chest as the second team (the actual medics) came in. They got an oxygen mask on the baby and said they needed to take the baby to the hospital. Traci was still on the phone, and they agreed to wait until she got there so we could all decide the best plan of action.

Traci got there and congratulated us on our new arrival. She agreed that it would be good to take Vivienne in for observation. I rode with Vivienne in the ambulance while Traci stayed with Amy until she was able to join us at the hospital. The EMTs kept Vivienne on oxygen for the ride over to the hospital, but the docs at Seattle Children's ER checked her out and said she didn't need it; she was doing fine on her own (and her face was less and less blue). All her tests showed normal, and Amy and Traci showed up soon. Traci bid us goodnight, and we stayed overnight in the hospital, the staff checking in on her regularly throughout the night. In the morning they pronounced her healthy and the three of us went home to a joyful reunion with Louis, Grandma, and Rebecca.

We are so happy that everything turned out as well as it did; it could have been a lot worse. We thank everyone involved from the bottom of our hearts; without any one of the links in this chain—from the cabbie to Traci to Grandma and Rebecca to the paramedics to the hospital staff—it could have been a disaster. Thank you thank you thank you!

Vivienne was weighed at least three times by different people in the hospital, with widely varying results we're gonna go with a birth weight of 8lbs 10oz., and 20.5 inches long. Everyone is doing well; stay tuned for more!