A soldier resorted to watching the birth of his daughter on FaceTime, as his flight home was delayed.

A fellow passenger, Tracy Dover, was aware of what was going on as the expectant dad, Brooks Lindsey, had told her he was travelling home to Mississippi knowing his wife was in labour. 

Snapping a photo of the dad sat down staring at his phone, Dover wrote on Facebook: “He was crying and our hearts were breaking. We all gave him space. When we heard the baby cry, we all rejoiced for him.” 

Dover also took a video of the dad (at the top of the page), showing him staring at his screen, wide-eyed and emotional as he watched his wife give birth. 

Dover wrote that she wanted to share the picture because she never wants people to forget about the “soldiers who serve us everyday and the sacrifices they make”.

Her Facebook post was shared more than 120,000 times and had more than 200,000 likes. Some commented on the thread to share their own experiences of men working in the army who have had to miss family moments. 

“Military life is not easy, I can say this because I was a military wife for 20 years,” one woman wrote. “My heart breaks for this solider but so glad he was able to watch the birth online. My husband missed many special events that happened during our 20 years of service.”

Lindsey’s wife gave birth to a baby girl named Millie. The new dad was able to catch a later flight and went straight to the hospital to meet his daughter. 

Lindsey later told a local news channel how he felt about the photo being shared all around the world. “It was a blessing,” he said. “Blessing in disguise that I got to see it firsthand, or via FaceTime. That was pretty awesome and we have a pretty awesome story to tell about her birth.

“There’s a lot of people [in the army] who don’t get to come home or don’t get to see their kid born on FaceTime or Skype, or anything like that.”