Despite having planned a midwife-assisted homebirth to deliver their second child — daughter Maxine — the singer was forced to step in himself when wife Nikki suddenly went into labor.
However, things took a turn for the worse when the baby girl became lodged in the birth canal.
“After Max’s head popped out, the delivery stalled for the next couple of contractions. The baby’s head was blue and the umbilical cord was wrapped around her neck,” he tells PEOPLE of the May 1 birth. ”I was worried the cord was choking her, keeping blood from getting to her brain.”
Fortunately, Hexum — who together with 311 will release their 10th studio album, Universal Pulse, on July 19 — was able to recall the couple’s elder daughter Echo‘s birth 21 months prior, and immediately began to coax the newborn out.
“I knew from observing and listening the first time around that sometimes the baby’s shoulder would get caught and they would have to reach in there and break its collar bone to free her,” he says. “I reached my fingers in there and felt the shoulders and rotated the baby back and forth.”
And with the next contraction, Maxine “slid out smoothly” — but Hexum’s work was not over yet, as his daughter was still not moving. “I jiggled her around until I heard a ‘wahhh!’ It was an amazing moment,” he remembers.
Ten minutes later, with the situation now under control, the midwife arrived to cut the cord.
“Everything was fine!” Hexum, 41, explains. ”We never went to the hospital. We just sat in bed laughing and crying tears of joy about what a crazy experience it was.”
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