This surprise out-of-hospital birth story focused on the toddler-as-midwife angle. Just as interesting, however, was the fact that this woman avoided surgery. She was scheduled for her fourth cesarean on December 6, 2009.
Congratulations to the family.
Two-year-old Jeremiha Taylor doesn’t have to ask his mother where babies come from — he helped deliver his little brother at the foot of his family’s living room couch.
“He’s my little hero,” Jeremiha’s mom, Bobbye Favazza, 27, of Olive Branch, said Tuesday. “It was like he knew what to do.”
Favazza gave birth to a 7-pound, 4-ounce baby boy, Kamron Taylor, on Friday morning. Firefighters arrived moments later to cut the umbilical cord.
Greg Mynatt, an emergency services supervisor with the city, said the 911 call about Favazza was probably the third this year about a woman in labor, but usually the mother makes it to the hospital before delivery.
Even rarer is a child assisting with delivery. Mynatt did not recall it ever happening here.
“This would probably be the first,” he said.
Jeremiha can count to five, feed himself and go to the potty himself. He communicates in short sentences.
Of course, nothing about his brief childhood had prepared him to assist in delivering a baby, but Favazza said that of her four children, Jeremiha is the bold one, the one who “will try anything.”
Favazza had made proper plans. Baptist Memorial Hospital-DeSoto was expecting her — on Dec. 6, for her fourth caesarian section — not on Friday the 13th.
Looking back, Favazza realized she was in labor all through the night before the birth, but she did not realize it at the time. The discomfort was minor compared to the labor pains she remembered before giving birth to her sons, ages 2 and 3, and daughter, 5.
On Friday morning, Favazza complained to her mother, Leigh Favazza, about the pain, but neither woman believed delivery was imminent.
Leigh Favazza considered taking the day off from her sales job if indeed her daughter was going to give birth, but first she had to get her granddaughter, Keely Taylor, settled at school.
Leigh Favazza left the house to take the 5-year-old to the bus stop at the end of Maury Drive, then she headed for Olive Branch Elementary School to drop off snacks for her granddaughter’s classroom. While en route, Bobbye Favazza called.
“Mom, I’m having the baby,” Bobbye Favazza said.
Leigh Favazza hung up and called 911. It was 8:26 a.m. She was frantic. Her daughter was alone in the house with a 2-year-old, a 3-year-old, a bull mastiff and a poodle and her water had just broken.
Bobbye Favazza’s oldest son, 3-year-old Jamison Taylor, had awakened to discover his mother bleeding and in pain.
“He sat on the couch right here and cried,” Bobbye Favazza said. “He was terrified. He’s my emotional one.”
The 2-year-old was calm.
“I laid on the couch and he went and got a towel,” Bobbye Favazza said. “He grabbed a towel on his own.
“It happened so fast. My water broke and the baby came two to three minutes later. I just pushed and he caught him.”
Bobbye Favazza said she held her baby, still attached to her by the cord, as she walked a few feet to unlock the front door for emergency personnel. They cut the cord.
Jeremiha, quizzed about the birth of his brother, can point to the spot at the end of the couch where Kamron Taylor was born.
“Over there,” he said.
“Sometimes these things happen, especially to mothers who’ve had multiple births,” said Mynatt, the city’s emergency services supervisor. “The time gets less and less with each delivery.”
Mother and son were discharged from Baptist-DeSoto. Neither suffered any complications.
“I’ve had three,” said Leigh Favazza, the proud grandmother, “and I can’t imagine having any of them like this.”
Awesome story! And I have to point out my usual pet peeve. What’s with the fuss about cutting the umbilical cord? I swear every accidental home birth story always goes to great lengths to describe how, when, and by whom the cord is cut, as if a baby isn’t really safely born until it’s free from the placenta??? At least this one didn’t involve a dirty shoelace, like at least 2 others I’ve come across lately.
OK, off my soap box now. Congratulations to the family!!!
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Oh, this is so cool! And in my neck of the woods, too!
Awesome story! Thanks for sharing!
It is so funny how they also always need to emphasize who cut the cord. I think people really believe you NEED to cut the cord quickly, although I don’t know if anyone could tell you why.
Funny about that cutting the cord–my thinking would be that it’s the last thing I’d want to do–I view it as baby’s insurance policy to allow for a more gradual (if necessary) transition to physiological breathing. And why they always rush off to the hospital right afterwards really bothers me–instead of settling in for an hour of peak oxytocin/bonding/initiating breastfeeding all of a sudden it’s an emergency that requires medical oversight/intervention!!! Why?!! But anyway, congratulations to mother, baby and amazing little “big brother”, and especially on avoiding a fourth C-section with all its attendant risks!
The universal obsession with cord cutting is so ripe for some kind of anthropological/sociological analysis. It has to be something with the female passively producing children for the state or something with the Western ideal of infant independence and self-reliance. Or maybe it’s just total lack of knowledge of the mechanics of childbirth since birth has been institutionalized and inaccessible for several generations now. It probably goes along with the “But who will perform your birth for you?!!” mentality.
I’m sure this has already been analyzed. Should I whip out my Robbie Davis-Floyd collection?
That is interesting that the 2 year old was more action minded then the 3 year old. I wonder if my 5 year old will be more helpful then my 2 1/2 year old?
Not too susprising!
When I was planning my UC, I was speaking to my mom (an RN for the last 2+ decades), and she was also focused on making sure we cut the cord, how we were going to do it and when we were going to do it. She believed that the baby doesn’t start breathing until the cord is cut. I was stunned. She has even been present at births in the hospital she works for (its a very small hospital so the nurses work a lot of different floors) and still believed the cord had to be cut before the placenta started to separate.
I did my best to educate her and gave her links to read rather than just having me tell her so I hope it sunk in and maybe she can help some moms with delayed clamping!
When we ended up calling 911 after my daughter was born, the EMTs/firefighters were talking about making sure the baby stayed below the placenta so the blood doesn’t go back into it! The lack of education is astounding.
Congrats to this family! How wonderful that she avoided having another c-section.
I guess every birth needs a hero- at an unassisted birth the hero is the cord cutter! Have to make sure all disasters are averted by getting that cord cut quickly! Ugh! How have we done this for thousands of years anyway? I’m so glad all went well- so much for the repeat c/s!