This devoted dad helped deliver their baby at home using just one hand after his wife went into labor and gave birth on their couch.
Rhys Darby had been left with just one working arm after he took a nasty fall during a friendly football game and broke his thumb in three places. For eight weeks, Darby’s left arm was in a bright blue plaster cast that stretched from his knuckles to the middle of his forearm.
Despite his handicap, however, 28-year-old Darby welcomed his baby daughter Ariana by safely catching her in one hand—all while simultaneously juggling towels and a cell phone.
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Darby’s 24-year-old girlfriend Jade Brown went into labour in the middle of the night at their home in Sunderland, England last summer.
“I had the cast on one hand and a phone in the other—trying to deliver a baby!” recalled Darby. “I was running around trying to find towels while the woman on the line was trying to give me instructions.
“I bent down and stuck my hand out and the baby just came out. The ambulance arrived two minutes later and they cut the umbilical cord. I said: ‘It’s alright—I’ve done your job for you!’”
“It’s funny—Jade was adamant in the run up that she didn’t want me near the business area during the birth,” he quipped. “I should have brought my baseball glove—then it would have been fine! But it was quite scary.”
A week earlier, Brown’s water had broke after she bent down to pick up a sock. Shortly after arriving at the hospital, they were sent home because she had not been dilated enough.
“We were told to come back at the next afternoon if nothing happened and they would start her off, so we went home,” says Darby. “Jade tried to get some sleep, but by 2AM, the pain was overwhelming.”
Brown added: “I was trying to just breathe through [the contractions] but they were getting more intense so I went downstairs and sat with Rhys.
“I was squeezing his hand every time I got a contraction, but as time went on, I couldn’t cope with the pain and told Rhys we needed to go to the hospital.”
They called for a taxi, but when things got more serious, Darby dialed 999 and was connected to an operator who told him the ambulance was on the way. When the situation escalated further, however, he had to get involved.
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“After a few pushes, our baby girl Ariana was born on the settee,” says Brown. “I remember lying with her on my chest and I couldn’t believe how quick it all happened.”
Ariana’s official time of birth was 4:23AM.
“Jade had no pain relief apart from a couple of paracetamol and some gas and air in the ambulance,” recalls Darby.
“I had wanted to do the honor of cutting the umbilical cord, but the paramedics said I shouldn’t, because of the situation.
“Apparently we were quite lucky. Lots of stuff could have gone wrong. Ariana is a miracle, really. She was conceived two months after Jade had a miscarriage.”
Brown added: “I was so glad that Rhys got to be so involved with the birth of our baby girl and I am so proud of him for delivering her—especially with a cast on his arm.
“He was amazing during and after the birth and he’s an amazing dad to Ariana.”
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