Willow Skye Dobbs’ entrance into the world at 1:18 a.m. Aug. 12 is something her mother, Kylie Christopher, 23, will be talking about for years to come.
It’s also something De Soto Police Patrolman Craig Burch and Cpl. Jacob Schurman will never forget.
Burch, with assistance from Schurman, delivered baby Willow in Kylie’s bathroom minutes after Kylie’s boyfriend, Hunter Dobbs, called 911.
“Really, I think Mom did all the work,” said Burch, a military veteran and father of two young children. Burch joined the De Soto Police Department two and a half years ago.
De Soto Capt. Jeff Wynn said he believes Burch is the first police officer in the department to deliver a baby.
Kylie, who was 38 weeks pregnant, said her labor started in the afternoon on Aug. 11. She and her mom, Courtney, went to Mercy Hospital St. Louis in Creve Coeur, arriving there at about 5:30 p.m. After about four hours, her labor hadn’t progressed much, so, to Kylie’s disappointment, she was discharged, and her mom took her home.
Courtney dropped Kylie off at home about 10:45 p.m.
“I got home and I was like, man, these contractions are really close together,” she said. “I was moaning and groaning on the bed. And then I was like maybe a shower will help. So I took a shower. I remember I dropped to my knees and had to crawl out of the shower.”
She said she could feel the baby crowning and yelled at her boyfriend to call 911.
The two police officers arrived within a couple of minutes, beating the fire department and the ambulance district.
“She was in the master bathroom, and we were trying to move her into the bedroom because it was too small for us all to be in there,” Burch said. “When we started to move her, we saw that the baby was crowning, so we asked her to lay down in the threshold of the bathroom and bedroom.
“Jefferson County Dispatch (walked us through everything.) We laid her down, started having her push, repositioned her legs and everything, and out came a little girl.”
Burch said the baby was delivered six minutes after they arrived.
“I don’t think I could have done that by myself without any help,” Kylie said, adding that she also never thought she could have a baby without pain medication.
She said her boyfriend was terrified. But their 3-year-old son, Oaklynd, was jumping up and down on the bed.
Minutes after the delivery, Kylie’s parents, Mike and Courtney, who live right outside De Soto, arrived.
“When I walked in and heard (the baby) crying, I was like, ‘Are you kidding me?’” Courtney said.
Valle Ambulance District staff transported Kylie, Hunter and the baby back to Mercy St. Louis. The two were released from the hospital on Aug. 14.
At 7 p.m. on Aug. 15, Kylie was reunited with Burch and Schurman, who delivered gift baskets that included baby wipes, diapers, lotion, blankets and a card signed by De Soto Police Department staff members.
“My wife wanted to specify the snacks were late-night feeding snacks for (Kylie),” Schurman said. “She’s been there, done that.”
The officers immediately asked how much the baby weighed and if she was healthy.
“She was 6 pounds, 5.9 ounces,” Kylie said. “They were all shocked there at the hospital. They were like, ‘did EMS deliver?’ Actually, no, a police officer.”
Kylie said the hospital wanted to list the place of birth on the birth certificate as Mercy St. Louis.
“She was not born in a hospital,” Kylie said.
Mike joked that Burch should be listed as the delivering doctor.
Kylie said she was excited to learn that both officers’ body cameras captured the birth of her child. She hopes to get a copy.
Mike asked the officers if they had learned anything in the police academy about delivering a baby, and Burch said they had learned how to give CPR to a baby,
“We’re pretty used to stressful situations,” Burch said.
But neither officer thought he would ever have to help deliver a baby.
“I will say it’s very rare when we get dispatched to a call that it actually turns out to be what the call was dispatched out as,” Schurman said.
“We’ve been to (baby) crowning calls before, and they’re not even close,” Burch said.
“Or they already gave birth and they’re not even in labor,” Schurman said. “Yours was definitely very much exactly as it (was dispatched out as).”
Wynn praised Burch for delivering the baby.
“I felt he did an outstanding job,” Wynn said. “It’s not something law enforcement officers normally have to deal with.”