Delayed Soldier Watches Wife Give Birth Via FaceTime From Airport

DALLAS, TX — When they heard little Millie Lindsey cry as she entered the world, the other travelers waiting to board a flight at the Dallas airport sent up a loud cheer. A couple of states away, in Mississippi, the baby’s mother, Haley Lindsey, heard them.

She and soldier husband Brooks hadn’t planned to make the birth of their child Friday such a public event, but in a time before the era of social media, he wouldn’t have seen it at all. The Brandon, Mississippi, soldier’s flight was delayed, so he was able to coach his wife through the birth on FaceTime.

By the time the story of Millie's birth came out, a photo of the camouflage-wearing Brooks Lindsey glued to his cellphone as he sat alone on the airport floor had already captured the world’s heart. Tracy Dover snapped the photo, then posted it on Facebook with the message:

“This Army soldier was on my delayed flight home yesterday to MS. He had to watch the birth of his daughter on FaceTime. He was crying and our hearts were breaking. We all gave him space. When we heard the baby cry, we all rejoiced for him. I wanted to share this because I never want us to forget about our soldiers who serve us everyday and the sacrifices they make.”

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The soldier, who is attached to the Mississippi Army National Guard's 2nd Battalion, 114th Field Artillery Regiment, is stationed at Fort Bliss in El Paso, Texas, in preparation for deployment to Kuwait for nine months. Haley Lindsey went to the doctor on Thursday for a regular appointment and after learning her blood pressure was dangerously high, worked with the Red Cross so he could come home to be at her side for their daughter's birth, according to the new mom's account on Love What Matters.

The El Paso-to-Dallas leg of the flight was on schedule, but to get to Jackson, Mississippi, in time to be at the hospital for the birth of his daughter required all systems to work with the precision of the world clock. They didn't, so when the flight out of Dallas was delayed, the Lindseys did the best they could with FaceTime.

It wasn’t the same as him being there, but Brooks “was telling me it was OK, and I was doing so good and I heard him wincing and saying ‘wow!’ through my pushes,” Haley wrote on the Love What Matters site.

“I could hear people at the airport talking and cheering,” Haley said.

Then, airline personnel announced the flight was boarding.

“Brooks then went on to say that they were making him board and needed to get off as soon as she finally started to crown,” Haley said. “ All I remember was my doctor screaming ‘Don’t let him board the flight! She’s here! She’s here!’ ”

So the attendants at the gate slowed things down and allowed Brooks to “sit there and watch till it was over,” his wife wrote.

When soldiers are preparing for deployment, getting one of them home for a routine birth isn’t always easy. The couple had been rehearsing the call to the American Red Cross, which helps get soldiers home in emergencies, but weren’t hopeful because Haley hadn’t experienced any problems with her pregnancy.

“So we were pretty upset about that because I was not having any issues with pregnancy other than a little high blood pressure,” she wrote.

Haley went to her normal doctor’s appointment Thursday morning, thinking labor would be induced in about a week. An hour after she returned home, the doctor called and told her to report back to the hospital because her blood pressure was “too high and the baby was being stressed,” Haley wrote.

“I called Brooks frantic and he was so excited!” her post continued. “I then went on to call Red Cross and let them know it was indeed an emergency and they simply just needed clarification from my doctor.”

Brooks couldn’t get a flight out of El Paso until 10 a.m. Friday morning. Haley was sure he would miss the birth, but at least he would be able to spend four days at home before he was deployed and “I was taking whatever I could get,” she wrote.

At 7 a.m. Friday morning, Haley’s medical team broke her water. By the time Brooks landed in Dallas at 2:38 p.m. Central Daylight Time, she was already dilated 5 centimeters.

The flight delay worked in the couple’s favor. At 5 p.m., the doctors told her the baby was coming. Millie was born at 5:23 p.m., weighing 7 pounds, 6 ounces. Brooks arrived at the hospital about two hours later.

“He picked her up and held her for five minutes and kept saying ‘wow I can’t believe we just had a baby’ but the entire time I was already dreading him leaving 4 days later,” she wrote.

The next morning, the FaceTime video was already winning the internet and it’s still going strong.

Haley wrote that she has received “the sweetest messages,” including some from other military wives and mothers wanting tips on working with the Red Cross to get their husbands home to see their babies born.

“We had random people bringing gifts to our rooms and nurses coming in and thanking Brooks for his service!” she wrote. “It has been an amazing, emotional time full of so much support!”

Here's Tracy Dover's Facebook post:

Photo by Tracy Dover, used with permission