Friday, June 17, 2011

Nick Hexum of 311 shares “crazy” home birth delivery (The Imperfect Parent)

The frontman for 311 used quick thinking and was able to deliver baby Maxine at home when his wife went into labor unexpectedly.

“Everything was fine!” the lead singer recalled of the joyous, yet traumatic delivery. “We never went to the hospital. We just sat in bed laughing and crying tears of joy about what a crazy experience it was.”

Nick and Nikki Hexum had planned on having a midwife attend the home birth of child number 2, but baby Hexum was born before the midwife could get there.

Hexum even managed to safely deliver the baby despite complications. “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 recalled. “I was worried the cord was choking her, keeping blood from getting to her brain.”

“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.”

Hexum “felt the shoulders and rotated the baby back and forth.”

While waiting for the midwife to arrive, “I jiggled her around until I heard a ‘wahhh!’ It was an amazing moment.”

Nick Hexum married Nikki on New Year’s Eve 2008. She is a writer/painter who worked with the likes of Val Kilmer. Their first born, Echo Love Hexum, was also delivered at home on August 29, 2009. Of that experience he tweeted, “Echo Hexum was born at home today at four in the morning. Words cannot describe how amazing it was. Time to go to bed…”

Maxine was born on May 1.

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