Sergeant Hears Birth of Daughter Over Phone Line

William Lohrman heard the first cry of his first child this week--by long distance at his army post in Saudi Arabia.

His wife, Connie, said Thursday that she was in labor when the phone rang in the maternity ward of St. Joseph’s Medical Center.

“The nurse said she had a surprise phone call for me, and I said, ‘I can’t take it right now,”’ she said. “She said, ‘Yes you can.”’

Her husband, an army sergeant in the Special Forces, was on the other end of the line.

“The contractions were so bad, I didn’t even recognize his voice. I said, ‘Who is this?’ and he said, ‘It’s Billy, your husband.’ Then I forgot all about the contractions,” she said.

She said that in the midst of contractions, she could hear her husband chant, “Breathe, breathe.”

“He could hear us, and we could hear him,” she said. “Normally when he calls, we get cut off. Hearing him was an answered prayer.”

William Lohrman, in Saudi Arabia since September, had the connection for more than an hour and was able to hear the entire delivery of Britney Lorraine.

Once in the delivery room, however, the phone cord wouldn’t reach the delivery table. So, a nurse relayed messages between them.

After the baby was born, nurses wheeled the new mother, still on the delivery table, over to the phone to finish her call.

“This is the first long-distance delivery I’ve had,” said Dr. Leo Wrona, the attending physician.