Deployed Airman witnesses birth of daughter from Iraq

  • Published
  • By Tech. Sgt. Parker Gyokeres
  • 23rd Wing Public Affairs
MOODY AIR FORCE BASE, Ga. (ACCNS) --  When Meagan Marie Ritter opened her eyes for the first time on Aug. 24, her daddy was with her.

Well, not exactly, Tech. Sgt. Joseph Ritter, 23rd Civil Engineer Squadron heavy equipment craftsman, is currently deployed to Camp Victory, Iraq. However, thanks to the efforts of his deployed unit and volunteers at a local hospital, a live camera feed was set up so he could see and hear his wife, Michelle, as she gave birth to their first child.

For most of his wife's 10 hours of labor, Sergeant Ritter was able to be a part of the activity in the delivery room through the Web broadcast.

"There is nothing in this world that can change the fact that I wasn't physically there for Michelle to just hold her hand and help her through it all," he said. "But the broadcast brought us as close together as possible under the circumstances."

Becoming a father was a surprisingly emotional experience, he added.

"I was fine when I was concentrating on my wife and what she was going through, until I heard my daughter's first cry," said the new dad. "That's when it hit me and I remembered what we were all there for. My daughter was finally a part of our lives. I just lost it and started to cry. We were all crying. I thanked my wife for our beautiful baby girl and let her know how blessed we are to have her in our lives."

The coordination to make this broadcast possible began back in May, soon after Sergeant Ritter deployed to Iraq. Mrs. Ritter, a nurse practitioner, knew what her husband would be missing if he couldn't be an active participant in Meagan's birth. She visited the office of Chuck Roberts, the support administrator for Smith Northview Hospital in Valdosta Ga.

"Mrs. Ritter came in and explained how much she wanted her husband to be able to see the birth of their first child," said Mr. Roberts. "I have two children myself and it touched me enough to start calling people immediately while she was still in the office."

In no time, the hospital's information technology contractor had enthusiastically signed onto the project, he said. They contacted another company who donated two cameras and a Web server to broadcast the event over the Internet to Sergeant Ritter in Iraq.

"We also received a lot of support from Col. Loraine Anderson, 23rd Medical Group commander," he added. "She contacted Sergeant Ritter's unit in Iraq and got them on board."

The hospital and members of Sergeant Ritter's 723rd Expeditionary Civil Engineer Squadron performed a test broadcast shortly before his wife was scheduled to give birth. Once everything was ironed out, the hospital's information technology department settled in and waited for the call.

The plan was put into action in the late afternoon of Aug. 24.

"Chuck Roberts called to tell me Michelle had gone into labor," said Matt Nunnally, a computer technician at Smith Northview. "I hung up the phone and said to the IT department, 'Boys, were having a baby.' By the time she arrived at the hospital, her room was all set up and the feed was waiting for her husband to log on."

As she went into labor, Mrs. Ritter said she was more at ease once her husband was there providing his support.

"I am so grateful for all of the work everyone went through to make this possible," said Mrs. Ritter. "Knowing that he was there for me emotionally made everything a lot better. When the nurses came in and told me, 'he's watching right now,' it gave me a lot of strength to continue and I was able to focus more on our beautiful baby daughter."