A veteran suffering from PTSD delivered his daughter on the sidewalk outside of his Atlanta home when his fiancee went into labor.
Marcus Nash, 30, said his fiance Charlie, 32, woke up the morning of November 14 with severe back pain that was causing her to sweat profusely.
It took her nearly two hours to get dressed to go to the emergency room and as they headed down the stairs, Charlie clenched Marcus’ arm and lowered to the concrete ordering him to take off her pants.
When her pants came down Marcus said he saw a full head of hair and shoulders putting the man with PTSD in a high-anxiety situation that he handled seamlessly.
‘PTSD was way far away. I wasn’t angry – it was nowhere to be found,’ he said.
A woman went into labor outside her Atlanta home and her fiancee, a disabled veteran suffering from PTSD, delivered the baby
Marcus Nash, 30, is pictured holding his daughter Marlee Rose who he helped deliver
The baby girl was delivered at a healthy seven pounds 14 ounces on the sidewalk just three days before her due date.
The parents named her Marlee Jane and Marcus did the honors of cutting the umbilical chord with scissors provided by neighbors, Cardena Williamson wife Bri Anderson, who stepped in to help.
They were inside their home when they heard the commotion outside.
‘I had my wife run upstairs and get blankets and towels to keep the baby warm and keep the mommy warm,’ Williamson told Fox Atlanta.
When the ambulance arrived, they assisted the new mother and found there were no complications with the baby.
Their biggest concern was whether or not the scissors used were sterilized, but that proved to not be problematic.
Marcus said the first responders were amazed to learn that he was a disabled veteran with PTSD.
The first-time father served in Iraq and Afghanistan from 2008 to 2013.
A psychological evaluation diagnosed him with PTSD in 2014 and he is now considered a 100 percent disabled veteran.
PTSD or post-traumatic stress disorder is a disorder characterized by failure to recover after experiencing or witnessing a traumatic event.
About 20 percent of veterans who served in Iraq are reported to suffer from PTSD.
The condition could last months or years, with triggers that can bring back memories of the trauma accompanied by intense emotional and physical reactions.
Marcus suffers from PTSD after serving in Iraq and Afghanistan from 2008 to 2013. Doctors were surprised that he handled the anxiety of child birth under these circumstances so well
Though the circumstances were odd, Marlee Jane was born without any complication weighing a healthy seven pounds 14 ounces
For Marcus, he said he experienced high-levels of anger during stressful situations regarding family or finances.
‘The slightest little thing could make me snap,’ he told Daily Mail Online.
And to doctors’ surprise, the stress of delivering his first child on the sidewalk didn’t trigger an angry episode.
Marcus said it was a moment of high-excitement, not high-anxiety.
Now the father is using music therapy and sings to channel his PTSD. He focuses on his music career as an RnB singer full-time instead of taking medication.
The new parents say the birth of their baby girl is ‘a story that we will never forget.’
Marcus and his fiance Charlie White, 32, (right) said the birth of their baby girl is a story they’ll never forget