A nice story in which the happy ending will be complete when the family is reunited.
http://www.af.mil/stories/story_ops.asp?storyID=12300611211/26/2003 - TALLIL AIR BASE, Iraq (AFPN) -- Being in a deployed location is difficult on most servicemembers. That difficulty is only compounded when a wife back home is pregnant.
Staff Sgt. Brian Schmied, a survival equipment craftsman assigned to Pope Air Force Base, N.C., was faced with that problem when he arrived here more than 100 days ago.
Tallil Air Base and Pope AFB officials worked together to make a difficult time a little easier for Schmied when his wife, Kirsten, gave birth Nov. 21. They ensured he was on the phone and able to communicate with his wife during her labor.
“When I left she was barely showing,” Schmied said. “It was tough being here while she was going to the doctor’s appointments and not being able to be there with her.”
As difficult as the deployment is for him, it is not easy for his wife either.
“It was really lonely at times not having him here to share things with, especially when I went for my scan the day after he left, and when I saw my tummy moving for the first time,” Kirsten said. “It was hard for me to go through it all alone, but it was also hard knowing that he was missing out on so much.”
After eight and a half months of pregnancy and more than three months of separation, Brian received a call at work letting him know his daughter was on the way.
“(Kirsten) used the spouse morale-call program to call me and let me know her water broke and she was going to the hospital,” he said. “After that, I waited a few hours and then called (the hospital).”
At about 2 a.m., Brian received the call he had been waiting for; his wife was going into labor. An hour and a half later, he was able to be involved in the delivery with Kirsten via telephone.
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Congrats, Sgt!