Twelve-year-old Jacee Dellapena gained a baby brother and a new direction in life when a doctor let her help deliver her sibling last week ― now she wants to be an OB-GYN.
“That’s what she wants to do when she grows up. She said it was the most amazing experience she has ever had. She’s never been so happy,” Jacee’s mother, Dede Carraway, told HuffPost.
Jacee had lobbied to be in the delivery room for the birth of her brother Zadyn 18 months ago, but her mom and stepfather, Zack, didn’t think she was ready yet. This time around, they decided Jacee was mature and informed enough to attend the birth, but the delivery assistance was an unexpected suggestion from the doctor.
“They converted my bed and Jacee was so upset because she is so short ... she thought she wasn’t going to be able to see the delivery over the bed. My doctor, Dr. Walter Wolfe, then suggested, ‘Jacee, why don’t you suit up and come deliver the baby?’” Carraway wrote in a post on Love What Matters, which was accompanied by the emotional photos of Jacee helping to bring her new brother, Cayson, into the world.
The doctor then guided Jacee’s hands through the delivery, and her stepdad even let her cut the umbilical cord.
The photos have been liked over 41,000 times and shared over 8,200 times on the Love What Matters page and liked over 223,000 times and shared over 195,000 times on the page of family friend Nikki Smith, who originally shared them.
The reaction was just as overwhelming in the delivery room.
“From the pictures, you see the expressions on her face ... there just was not a dry eye in the room. She made everybody, I think including the doctor, tear up at her emotion because she was just so happy. I can’t even explain the emotions that I had,” Dede told HuffPost.
While Jacee says the delivery was “the best moment of her entire life,” her presence was also a huge comfort to her mother, who says her epidural had stopped working during labor.
“I was in some serious pain and her being down there and being able to focus on her, it helped a whole lot. It was amazing,” she said.
