100 Things.com.au: Number 23- Deliver a Baby

Take a seat and listen to this; you won't believe it otherwise.

In short, 4 weeks ago I flew to Regina, Canada to deliver the baby of a girl I met 4 years ago. I admit, this does not seem normal. She invited me to do so after seeing it was Number 23 on my list. After a 38 hour flight from Switzerland, I waited 16 days for Tara to give birth only to miss it due to an emergency 8 minute pregnancy! All I could was laugh at myself.

In this 3 week period however I did somehow manage to attract Canada-wide media interest who followed my every step. After breaking the news to them that I had missed the birth, they asked me what was next. I thought about this for a moment and decided to make a nationwide plea to see if there was any other pregnant women who would be interested in allowing me to assist in the child birth. Crazy I know. One day later I had 10 offers, two of which were for this weekend, in Regina.

This leads to today....

You may recall that on Wednesday we met up with Carmen, a lovely girl who was due to give birth tomorrow (Sunday). After having lunch together and meeting her Mum, Carmen suggested that I should come around dinner on Friday evening (last night) where I would be able to meet her partner and extended family. This I did. It was a great evening and one full of laughs. Ultimately it was confirmed that Carmen and her partner, Dane, were happy to have me attend the birth of the couple's third child.

After being dropped home by Carmen after dinner, a little after 11pm, I reminded her as I shut the door that should she could call me at any time should she fall into labour. I fell asleep soon after.

At 4am, the phone rang. It was Carmen's Mum.

"Sebastian, sorry to wake you but Carmen is in labour. We're at the hospital waiting for you!"

Twenty minutes later I was at her bedside. Carmen, although in a huge amount of pain, was smiling. Dane and her lovely mother stood at her bedside as I entered the room, and an occupied nurse told me that something special was about to happen.

Myself, Carmen and partner, Dane

I will of course bring you a detailed story of what happened in a few days, but as I sit here typing at 11.23pm, I am ecstatic to tell you that today at 1.40pm, Carmen gave birth to a beautiful a baby boy named Oakley! Congratulations to her and Dane!

Weighing in at 8lbs 14oz, let me say that Oakley is a big boy and after 12 hours of labour, today goes down as one of the most amazing days of my life- bar none.

So did I actually get to help with the birth? All I can say now is that being in the room alone is enough to answer YES to that question, but fortunately this was just the tip of what happened! It was immense.

We literally laughed the whole day long

Sometimes in life you witness or experience something which immediately puts things into perspective. Today I realised how amazing people are. Not just as individuals, but also as a collective. The love and attention that filled that birthing room today (including the nurses) is something that I have never experienced before, and the little individual that was produced as a product of this reinforces the beauty and opportunity that is life.

Number 23- Help Deliver a Baby- COMPLETE!

Little Oakley wondering who this strange man is

It goes without saying that I am eternally grateful to both Dane and Carmen for their generosity. Many items on the list are fueled by adrenalin, if not emotion and on occasions curiosity but item Number 23- Deliver a Baby stands alone as something which is far less about my list but solely about the generosity and love of others. This generosity in fact is something that we are lucky enough to continually see as we travel and complete our list and this is again is something that we do not take for granted.

We are humbled and proud to be a in a position to see this side of people and we just want to take this opportunity to say Thank You.

Before we end today, we would also like to thanks Amy from HELLO BABY.

Hello Baby is Regina's local baby store specializing in high quality baby products. Once they heard about our story, Amy, the lovely owner, got in touch and offered to donate a gift to to the baby. When we went down to pick up the gift, we couldn't believe it; Amy had gifted us with a top of the line, brand new, baby stroller valued at over $500.

Thanks guys so much! We wish you could have seen the smile on Carmen's face when we gave it to her today after the birth!