When firefighter, Marc Hadden, was called to duty, he didn’t think it was something that would change his life forever.
In 2011, Hadden responded to a call regarding a woman who was having severe pain on her abdomen in Myrtle Beach, South California. But it turned out, she was about to give birth.
Hadded didn’t think the day would turn out even more interesting than it was. But as it did, he said “I will never forget that day. It was a day when a lot of things came full circle.”
He was eating dinner, and there had been no activity all day. The lack of phone calls generated a sense of expectancy that was appropriate for what transpired next. The call came in from a woman who said she was having acute abdominal pains.
When the emergency crew came to the scene, they saw that the woman had been laboring for quite some time and was about to give birth. She couldn’t be brought to the hospital as her situation was critical.
Before the ambulance can even go, a member of the emergency team said that they had to deliver the baby. And when they delivered the baby, Hadden was tasked to hold her. They were not caring for two individuals: the mother and the baby. The firefighters transported the baby to a local hospital for proper care.
When he came home, he told his wife that he delivered a baby in the ambulance. His wife, Beth, said jokingly, “Can we keep her?”
Hadden contacted the hospital two days later to check on the baby. Hadden was informed by the hospital that the woman, whom he assumed was homeless, was placing the baby for adoption.
Hadden thought that it was a sign for him and his wife. They have been praying to have a baby for quite some time. And this seemed like the perfect timing.
“She is what we prayed for,” Beth said. “It felt like winning the lottery.”
They named their child Grace and the happy parents say that they are so lucky to have her in their lives.