It's widely understood that parents will go to any lengths for their children—and that fierce commitment starts well before the little one is born.
Consider the extraordinary measures one American serviceman stationed in the Middle East took to ensure he would be present for the arrival of his first child. The short version: seven plane trips.
Image credit: Community Hospital of the Monterey Peninsula via Facebook
Francois Clerfe, a U.S. Army combat engineer deployed in Iraq, used the military's policy that allowed him to travel home for the birth of his first baby. But the trip was hardly a quick, direct hop, as reported by Today.com.
The 1,000-mile journey required eight days and seven separate flights. Yes, you read that correctly—seven flights.
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My path to becoming a stay-at-home father He left Iraq on December 23, then bounced from Kuwait to Turkey to Frankfurt to Baltimore to Atlanta, and finally—at last!—arrived home in California on the 31st. Within hours of landing, his wife Natalia Svistunova delivered their baby girl, Julia, on January 1st in Monterey. (Notably, Julia was the first baby born in 2018 at Community Hospital of the Monterey Peninsula.)
The family will spend the remainder of Sgt. Clerfe's 30-day leave together, followed by an extra 10 days of paternity leave before he returns to duty.
Not to nitpick—since it's fantastic that Sgt. Clerfe gets quality time with his newborn and did make it to the birth in time—but next time, perhaps the Army could arrange a more direct and time-efficient route for a hardworking military man?
The post originally appeared on Today's Parent under the title "It took this dad a REALLY long time to get to the hospital for his baby’s birth."
