Deployed dad watches son's birth via Web cam

  • Published
  • By Airman 1st Class Tarelle Walker
  • 379th Air Expeditionary Wing Public Affairs
SOUTHWEST ASIA (AFPN) --  Rylan Todd was born weighing 8 pounds and 5 ounces at 11:01 p.m. March 25, and his parents watched him being born at a hospital near Ellsworth Air Force Base, S.D. The only thing different about this birth was that the father, Staff Sgt. Nicholas Todd, watched the birth via Web cam from thousands of miles away while supporting the war on terrorism at an air base in Southwest Asia.

Sergeant Todd, deployed to the 379th Expeditionary Maintenance Operations Squadron from his home station at Ellsworth AFB, was informed of his upcoming deployment when his wife, Jamie, was four months pregnant.

"We had five women in my shop pregnant, all with their babies due around the same time, so I couldn't really play the 'I have a baby coming' card," Sergeant Todd said. "It was my turn to deploy. It's part of the job, and I knew it had to be done. I figured there would be a way to work around it once I got out here. Fortunately, there was."

Even though this is Sergeant Todd's second child, it was the first time he has been faced with the possibility of missing the actual birth. The situation seemed difficult to overcome, but he said he was determined not to allow a little thing like distance stand in the way of him witnessing the labor and delivery. 

Though Web cams were not a foreign concept to Sergeant Todd, he didn't initially consider the option of using one to solve his dilemma. 

With the assistance of his first sergeant, Sergeant Todd found out about the Web cam services offered at the base learning resource center.

After coordination with the stateside hospital where his wife would give birth, a plan was made to allow Sergeant Todd to communicate with her and view the birth of his child by means of instant messaging and digital webcam. As the due date drew closer, Sergeant Todd was given a cell phone so his home unit could contact him with updates on his wife's progress.

"I didn't realize how big of a deal it really was until I saw (Sergeant Todd's) face the first day I met him," said Airman 1st Class Jill Mather, a 379th Expeditionary Services Squadron client support administrator. "He was wide-eyed and glowing; ready to have his baby. It was just a great feeling."

"It felt great knowing we had people to stand up for (my family) and help us out," Sergeant Todd said. "They went above and beyond for something that was important to me. Not being there was hard, but being able to watch and know what was going on to be sure my wife was in good hands made a world of difference."

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