When Lauren Guess delivered her first baby on Monday at Northside Hospital, her husband was right beside her offering encouragement -- from 8,000 miles away in Iraq.
Cole Stephen Guess was born at 11:45 a.m. Monday with his father, Cpl. Chad Guess, watching via videoconference from Al Asad, Iraq, where he is deployed.
The video conference was possible thanks to the Freedom Calls Foundation, a non-profit organization that built a satellite network in Iraq, where there is no Internet infrastructure, to keep servicemen and women connected to their families.
Chad, who talks to his wife on the phone daily, happened to call Lauren at the perfect time Monday -- just when she was beginning to go into labor. Lauren told Chad she was in labor and Chad hurried to a computer, where he talked his wife through the delivery and watched his son’s birth.
“To have him be able to sit over there and watch his son being born -- it was amazing,” Lauren said. “I can’t imagine doing it without him there.”
Lauren said her husband was making her laugh and offering words of encouragement.
“It was so comforting to have him there,” Lauren said. “So many guys, even guys he’s with, miss this, but we were able to see each other.”
The computer Lauren used to see Chad was set up on a cart beside the operating table, allowing him to be exactly where he would be if he was present -- at his wife’s side. Lauren’s mother was at her other side.
When the baby came out, Chad was able to see it from the other side of the surgical curtain.
“I’m very impressed,” Chad said. “She did a great job.”
The Freedom Calls Foundation is funded entirely by donations. Its satellite network serves deployed military personnel and their families 24 hours per day free of charge.
“We never could have imagined that my husband could have been here for the birth when he is 8,000 miles away fighting a war,” Lauren said in a statement. “This means the world to me and my family.”
Until Monday, the couple did not know they would be able to talk during the delivery. Chad was stationed on a more remote base for most of his deployment and was only recently transferred to Al Asad.
“As soon as I saw his face pop up yesterday, I was so excited,” Lauren said.
Chad saw his new son again Tuesday afternoon during a follow-up video conference.
“He looks just like you,” Lauren told Chad, holding the baby up to the computer’s camera. “We miss you.”
“I miss you too,” Chad answered. “I’m very proud of you.”
Chad and Lauren, who were married in 2007, have spent the last six months apart, meaning Lauren had to go through most of the pregnancy without her husband.
“It was hard going to doctor’s appointments and seeing other people’s husbands there and not mine,” Lauren said, fighting tears.
Lauren said she missed her husband most when the baby would kick and Chad could not be there to feel it. Cole is the Guess’ first child and Chad and Lauren’s parents’ first grandchild.
Chad, who joined the Marines in 2005, serves as a radio operator, handling radio and satellite communications for his battalion.
This is Chad’s second deployment in two years, and “hopefully his last,” according to Lauren.
The couple live at Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton in southern California. Lauren came home to Georgia to be with her family during her pregnancy and delivery.
Chad will return to the U.S. in two weeks -- “just in time to change diapers,” according to Lauren.
“I’m looking forward to coming home and taking on this new challenge,” Chad said. “It’s going to be fun.”
Chad said he’s looking forward to watching football with his son and teaching him how to bark like a true Georgia Bulldogs fan.
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