911 Helps Father Deliver Son : Emergency Dispatcher Coaches Tustin Man as Baby Arrives

Veronica Butler’s pregnancy had been a remarkably easy one, lacking the dreaded morning sickness or other discomforts that often haunt pregnant women. It was problem-free--until the very end.

Dominique Xavier Butler, 7 pounds and 14 ounces, was born at 6:57 a.m. Friday--without doctors, without nurses and without the trappings of modern medicine. He was delivered by his father, with the assistance of a calm 911 emergency dispatcher.

Butler began experiencing labor pains at their Tustin apartment at 4:30 a.m., but it was not until about two hours later that they thought the contractions were close enough to warrant a trip to St. Joseph Hospital, where she was scheduled to deliver next week.

With her husband, Le Roy, by her side, Butler, 31, made it as far as their car when a sharp labor pain forced her to grab her side.

“I just felt the head,” she said. “That shouldn’t have been there. So I knew I should head back upstairs. I knew that I wouldn’t make it to the hospital. I almost didn’t make it back upstairs.”

Le Roy Butler helped his wife back upstairs, laid her gently on the bed, undressed her and then frantically called 911.

“As I was dialing 911, his head started coming out,” he said later. “I was hoping nothing else would happen, and then I saw a little shoulder come out.”

On the other end of the telephone line was Leo Schneider, who had previously helped deliver two babies during his 15 years as a dispatcher.

Using a step-by-step instruction booklet on childbirth made available to dispatchers and emergency medical personnel, Schneider coached the panicked father through the delivery process.

He told Butler to get at least three clean towels and try to calm down his wife.

“I asked him, ‘Can you see anything?’ ” Schneider said, adding that the husband responded, “Yeah, the baby’s head. The head’s starting to come out.”

“I said, ‘Well, that’s good. That’s exactly what we want,’ ” Schneider said.

“I said, ‘Comfort her and just let nature take its course. You are doing great.’ ”

Schneider said Butler began yelling, “The head is out! The head is out! What am I going to do?”

Again, consulting the manual, Schneider told him to clear the baby’s mouth and nose so that the infant could breathe and to make sure the umbilical cord was not wrapped around the baby’s neck.

The father said later that he tried to reassure his wife by telling her the paramedics were on their way, but she remained scared.

“She had that look on her,” he said.

Butler said he really “tripped” when he realized, as he was holding the baby’s head, that he needed to unlock the front door for the paramedics to enter and take over.

“I sprinted to the door and came right back,” he said.

By the time paramedics made it into the apartment, Dominique was visible up to his shoulder. He was fully delivered by firefighter Ray Monreal, who allowed the father to cut the umbilical cord.

Several hours later, after it was all over, the proud parents entertained visitors at Western Medical Center in Santa Ana.

“I’ll never forget this,” said the proud father, who coincidentally was born in his parents’ house. “I saw my brothers and sister born there too. But it was nothing like this.”

“Some people may not know how that feels,” said Butler, a Hoag Memorial Hospital shipping supervisor. “It’s some feeling. Me and the kid became one.”

Minutes after delivery, Schneider got off his overnight shift. But instead of going home, he rushed to the hospital to visit the healthy baby and parents.

“This was my third delivery and I never had a chance to see the other babies. For my own personal gratification, I thought I’d run over there and see it,” Schneider said.

“What a beautiful baby boy,” he added. “Kid’s got a ton of hair and is cute as a button.”

Although the Butlers had read books on childbirth, the father credits the dispatcher with teaching him how to handle the baby’s head, clean the air passages and not panic.

Veronica Butler said her pediatrician, who had been waiting for her at St. Joseph’s for the checkup, was as flabbergasted as the parents.

“She was just as shocked as we were,” she said. “The first question she asked was, ‘What happened?’ ”

Le Roy Butler said he wonders how his son will react when he learns about the circumstances surrounding his birth.

“He may not believe me,” the father said, “until he looks at his birth certificate and it says ‘born at home.’ ”

“We are not planning on any more (children),” he added. “But if we do, it will be in the hospital, even if I have to get there two days early.”