Emily Dial grinned from ear to ear as she pulled her baby girl from her own womb in a cesarian section delivery on Sunday.
The 34-year-old nurse and midwife from Kentucky was determined to be as much a part of her third childbirth as possible, and was not going to let the operation she knew would be involved stop her.
Cesarean sections are not the preferred method of delivery for either doctors or mothers, who often wish – as Dial did – to fully experience their children’s births.
Dial called the unique delivery ‘one of the most perfect moments of my life,’ and had the entire process captured in stunning photographs.
Emily Dial, a 34-year-old midwife, pulls her daughter, Emma, from her c-section incision
Dial has delivered countless babies – by c-section or otherwise – but wanted experience both sides of the wonder of birth for herself.
Her previous pregnancies have been far from idyllic for Dial.
In 2012, Dial gave birth to her first baby, a son named Greyson. But what should have been a joyous moment for her and her husband, Daniel, turned to tragedy.
Part of Greyson’s diaphragm had not developed, and his bowel and liver had taken up too much space in his chest cavity for his lungs to grow properly.
Doctors immediately operated on the baby, but he died 10 days later.
Dial’s daughter, Ella, was born healthy, and also via c-section, four years ago, but Dial was so stricken by nausea that she hardly felt present for the girl’s birth.
So when she became pregnant with a third child last year, Dial was determined to experience the beauty of the birth in full.
Months before, she and Daniel learned that Dial would have to deliver by cesarean section.
Medically, the best and safest way to deliver a baby is through natural labor, and many women prefer this as well.
Some request a c-section, in the hopes of avoiding the pain that comes with pushing the baby through the birth canal, and the resulting stretching and even tearing of the vagina.
Emma is the third child Dial (left) has delivered, after she and her husband Daniel (right) lost a son, Greyson and had four-year-old Ella (center)
Daniel embraces his wife and new daughter after Emily successfully delivered Emma
Cesarean sections have become common, accounting for more than 30 percent of births in the US in 2013 – but that number is well above the World Health Organization’s target proportion of 10 percent.
Obstetricians and midwives broadly advise against caesarean sections when they can be avoided.
While common, the method of delivery is still a surgery, involving an incision through skin, muscle and placenta tissue – all of which raise risks of complications like excessive bleeding and scar tissue that can create further risks in later pregnancies.
But Dial’s doctors warned that she would need to have the surgical delivery, which becomes the best choice when a baby is in an abnormal position, its umbilical cords is wrapped in a dangerous way, or if there are other pregnancy complications.
I pulled my own baby out! It’s gonna be really difficult in the future to top that moment
Dial was not going to let that dampen her special day.
On her baby’s birthday, Dial scrubbed in, just as her doctors did, and as she would on any other day at the hospital.
Once her hands were sterile, she was fitted with surgical gloves. She ascended to the labor table, where a clear plastic surgical drape was hung between Dial’s chest and the site where doctors would make an incision across her abdomen.
Numbed at the incision site, but wide awake and full of excitement and adrenaline, Dial waited for it to be her turn.
The Dial family had chosen to keep the sex of their new baby a mystery, so when the delivery team reached her baby, everyone in the room was in for a surprise: The Dials were about to welcome a baby girl, not the boy they and their doctors had expected.
Finally, it was the mother’s turn. Dial reached her gloved hands down to her belly and watched through the plastic sheet as she pulled her daughter out into the world.
‘I was in shock and awe. I really wasn’t thinking about my belly being wide open. I was just like, “Oh my God! This really is a girl,”‘ the new mother told People.
Baby Emma was brought into the world by her mother’s own hands and to photographer Sarah Hill’s camera flashing away to capture the remarkable moment.
‘I had the [plastic] drape in front of my face and, trying to maintain sterile technique, I couldn’t kiss [Emma]. I just kept bringing her up to my face and looking at her, like, “I just want you in my arms so much,”‘ Dial said.
The moment instantly became a precious memory to both Dial and Hill, whose baby Dial delivered in 2016.
‘It was incredible to be able to capture that moment through my lens! Besides giving birth to my own boys it was one of the best days I’ve ever had,’ the photographer said.
‘She delivered my son and to be there with her in that moment as she met her daughter was amazing,’ Hill added.
‘There’s something so special about witnessing life come into this world but when you get to see a momma do it the way Emily did it’s indescribable,’ she said.
The new mother and baby Emma are happy and healthy at home now, but it may be awhile before Dial gets over the day her daughter was born.
‘I pulled my own baby out! It’s gonna be really difficult in the future to top that moment,’ she said.