YouTube Helps Man Deliver Baby

YouTube: It sucks hours away from our lives by allowing us to watch complete episodes of “T.J. Hooker” and annoying videos about a kid named Fred. But evidently it also is (indirectly) responsible for bringing new life into the world.

After watching some how-to videos on YouTube, a British engineer named Marc Stephens delivered his son last month when his wife quickly went into labour. As the BBC reports, Stephens’s wife, Jo, reported some discomfort one evening, which prompted her husband to Google “how to deliver a baby.” He watched a few videos, just in case. When Jo woke up in the middle of the night already in labour and found that no midwives were available to perform the home birth the couple had planned, Stephens was able to put his recently acquired medical expertise to use. He calmly delivered a healthy 5 lb., 5 oz. baby boy named Gabriel, the fourth addition to the Stephens family.

This is obviously a very happy story (and, possibly, awesome fodder for a future YouTube ad campaign). But a few of the stories that reported this news actually made me laugh out loud, simply because some of the quotes from the Stephens family are so hilarious. Some highlights:

From the BBC: “I Googled how to deliver a baby, watched a few videos and basically swotted up.”

Also from the BBC: “This is our fourth child now and while for our first I spent most of the time at my wife’s head, now I’m not afraid to go down to the business end.”

Then there’s this punchline, delivered by Jo Stephens to The Guardian: “I was quite relaxed. I have to say, out of all my four labours, that was the one I enjoyed the most. Marc is one of those people who can put his hand to anything.”

Put his hand to anything? You got that right, sister.

Anyway, we here at Strollerderby wish the Stephens family congratulations. And we also offer this link to a YouTube video as a public service to anyone who thinks he or she may have to deliver a baby sometime in the near future. The video delivery takes place in a taxi cab. And (obviously) it involves a fake mummy and a doll baby. But if it worked for Stephens, maybe it can work for you, too.