When Marc Hadden was called to help a woman in trouble, he had no idea what would happen next.
The experienced firefighter had been to many 911 calls, but this one was his first. A woman had called for help because she was having stomach pain.
The two-time dad from Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, had to give birth to his first child.
“Until you actually give birth, you can talk about how cool it would be,” Marc told Inside Edition.
Marc and his wife Beth, who was a teacher, already had two sons and wanted to have a daughter. But when they went to the doctor, they got bad news that stopped them from having a daughter.
“My wife was basically told to stop having babies because any more could be dangerous for her and the baby,” he told Inside Edition.
They had thought about adopting a child, but the price was too high.
He had no idea that a normal call to help deliver a baby would be the best day of their lives.
On November 14, 2011, Marc got to the scene and quickly realized that the woman’s stomach pains were actually contractions, but there wasn’t enough time to get her to the hospital.
The firefighter helped the woman give birth to a girl, whom she named Gracie. He talks about the special moment and how involved he was in the baby’s first days.
‘Can we keep her?’
“I was in charge of everything that had to do with Gracie… I helped her breathe for the first time,” he said.
When Marc told his wife that he had just given birth to a girl, Beth made a joke: “Can we keep her?”
They didn’t know it yet, but their dream would come true in just 48 hours.
The couple soon found out that the mom was a single parent who was already having a hard time taking care of her teenage son. Beth felt bad for the woman, so she went to see her in the hospital the next day.
Beth, who is 39 and works as an instructional coach at the local elementary school, said, “My heart just went out to this woman.”
She told People, “I brought her a small prayer book and asked if there was anything else I could do for her.”
As the two women talked and got to know each other, a doctor came in and told the mother of the baby that the adoption could go ahead. When Beth said something, the women seemed upset that a stranger was going to take her daughter.
She told People, “All of a sudden, I had the chance to say that Marc and I had been praying about adoption for years.” “And she looked over at me and said, ‘I want you to adopt my baby.’
“She had the nurse bring Gracie in, and that was the first time I got to hold her. “I think we just had a baby,” I told Marc when I called him.
Just a few hours after Marc helped the woman deliver her baby girl safely, he and his wife signed papers giving them temporary custody of the girl and were bringing her home. Her name is Rebecca Grace, but everyone calls her Gracie.
They said it felt like “winning the lottery,” but they weren’t ready for a girl so quickly. Thank goodness, people in the neighborhood stepped up and helped with the mountain of supplies and clothes that a baby needs.
Marc said that he couldn’t open his door because friends, family, and coworkers had left baby supplies there.
After five years, it’s clear that Hadden’s life has changed.
“I love my boys more than anything in the world, but Gracie has me in her grip. No question about it.”
“I think our relationship is stronger than any other father-daughter relationship. We stick together like glue.”