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Dispatcher helps family through harrowing home birth

Posted at 7:46 AM, Apr 16, 2021
and last updated 2021-04-16 07:45:59-04

WEST BLOOMFIELD, Mich. (WXYZ) — Things in life don’t always go as planned, just ask a couple in West Bloomfield who had to call 911 last month after going into labor at home.

"This is Madison Rose,” said mother Amy Bull as she held her newborn baby. "She’s 3 weeks old.”

Baby Madison is as calm as can be in her mother's arms, but the story of the night she was born was anything but.

“Gosh, I don’t think we’ll ever forget,” Amy said.

"West Bloomfield 911 whats the location of your emergency,” asked a dispatcher just before 3 a.m. on March 22.

“My wife is giving birth in the house,” Alex Bull replied during the call.

“She’s giving birth?" The dispatcher responded.

In the middle of the night, a few weeks before her due date, Amy woke up her husband knowing something wasn't right.

“I just had so much pain, and I laid down and I said 'Alex, you have to call 911; this baby is coming,'” Amy said.

"She’s like, call 911, and I’m like, are you joking,” Alex said. "I was in shock but at some point it did dawn on me that we are having a baby, in bed, at home.”

In a matter of minutes, Amy was in labor. Alex was by her side and the dispatcher was on speaker giving step-by-step instructions.

“Have her push out to get the baby out OK? Have her push as hard as she can,” the dispatcher is heard saying on the phone.

“It was like a huge relief when she said that," Alex said. "I was like OK, I can do this here, we can do this.”

With no one else in the room, that voice on the phone told them exactly what to do. Within minutes, Madison Rose was born.

"To hear her cry at the end of the call was pretty amazing,” said the heroic dispatcher Karloline Mayville during a Zoom interview with 7 Action News.

"They did amazing. The Dad stayed calm, did everything I told him, and the end result was fantastic,” she said. "We get so many, hundreds of calls, and to get one that's a happy call, something positive, it’s so refreshing.”

Even though Alex and Amy were technically alone in that room, it sure didn’t feel like it. If it weren’t for that third person in the room, the fourth may not have arrived.

“We couldn't have done it just by ourselves," Amy said. "We’re very happy she was able to help us so calmly and I'm glad she’s getting recognition for that.”

The entire 911 call lasted less than 10 minutes.

Paramedics from the fire station right down the street from their house showed up quickly, but baby Madison still beat them there.