LITTLETON, Colo. — Diana Buckwalter can only guess the number of babies she has delivered in the past 30 years.
“I think it’s in the thousands,” she said. “I think it's a lot!”
As a nurse practitioner and certified nurse midwife, there have been many memorable moments throughout her career.
“I think the reason I love this so much is because babies bring so much happiness to families, she said. “They also bring healing to the families.”
This week, a very special mom and baby came through the delivery room. Buckwalter’s own granddaughter, Caroline Price, gave birth to her first child on Tuesday at a hospital in Littleton. Buckwalter got to help deliver her great-granddaughter, Raya Price.
“When I got pregnant, I was like, ‘You’re going to take care of me!,’” Price said.
“And I said, ‘Of course I am!’” laughed Buckwalter. “I was so, so lucky to be able to be involved with this birth and to actually deliver my first great-grandchild. We thought that was a beautiful moment in time,” she said.
Caroline’s mom, Mary Price, was also in the delivery room – along with several aunts and sisters.
“The empowerment you get from the women that love you, that have done it before, that have the compassion – it's so empowering!” she said, turning to Caroline. “Did you feel empowered by all those people?”
“I had, like, a circle of women around me while I was giving birth!” Caroline said.
“And was it helpful?” Mary asked?
“It was!” she answered. “I felt like it would be overwhelming but it…it worked.”
“It was a little bit difficult keeping the tears from my eyes because it was such a sweet and special moment,” Buckwalter remembered. “And as I caught this sweet little baby, I was like – this is such a sweet, wonderful moment in time and I am so lucky and I’m so blessed and I have such a great family.”
Family is very important to Buckwalter. She has seven children of her own, plus 30 grandchildren and now one great-grandchild. She has been involved in a small number of other family births, too.
For years, Caroline Price has watched her grandmother work. Diana's passion for helping moms and babies has inspired Price to consider a career in nursing, too.
“I always wanted to be her. I always wanted to do what she does – so that’s my goal,” Price said. “I think birth is really cool. It’s beautiful.”
Baby Raya Price was born on her due date: Oct. 4, 2022 just after 3:00 p.m. She weighed 6lb, 12oz and measured 19 ¾ inches long.
Out of those thousands of babies Diana Buckwalter has delivered, this one will remain one of the most special.
“First of all to be a great-grandmother, not very many people get to be a great-grandmother – because they’re usually already dead!” she joked.
“But I get to be a great-grandmother and deliver a great-grandchild, so I feel very blessed, it was wonderful.”
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