Some fathers are at the bedside when their child is born.

Some are 8,000 miles away.

Andrew Ranson was both on Wednesday.

Ranson, a 28-year-old Marine lance corporal, is deployed in Iraq. Thanks to a satellite uplink, he was also a presence in Room 14-C7 at St. Joseph Medical Center in Tacoma with his pregnant wife, Michelle.

He couldn’t reach out and touch her as the birth of their daughter neared, but his face and voice on a laptop computer next to her was the next best thing.

“It’s better than nothing,” Ranson said in an interview with The News Tribune. “I’m excited. It’s definitely a good tool.”

Still he didn’t like being away from his wife. Tears came easily.

“I’m playing the cards I was dealt,” he said, “working with what I got.”

Having him in the room, even virtually, was “very important to me,” said Michelle, 26. “It’s very important to him.”

Starting at 6 a.m. in Tacoma and 4 p.m. in Iraq, Ranson talked with Michelle and other family members as they waited for the big moment.

At 6:08 p.m., Cadence Abigail Ranson arrived, pink and healthy. She was 19 1/2 inches long and weighed in at 7 pounds, six ounces.

The hook-up by satellite was a first for his unit – Bravo Company, 4th Tank Battalion based in Yakima – and one of the first military connections in a private hospital in the Northwest.

Ranson has been in Iraq on his first deployment for less than two months. Wednesday he was sitting in a room at the base community center in Al Asad, west of Baghdad in central Iraq.

His rifle leaned against the wall behind him, a stark reminder of the war going on around him. A tank mechanic by training, he was pulling security duty at the command and operations center at the base 24 hours earlier.

With only two hours of sleep, he was looking tired. But Michelle could see that he was well.

The Puyallup couple married six months ago. Cadence’s arrival was Ranson’s first childbirth; Michelle’s second. Their older child, 4-year-old Cameron, was in the waiting room with his grandparents.

The satellite uplink was made possible by the Freedom Calls Foundation, a nonprofit organization based in Morristown, N.J. Michelle said she heard about the group through the family support program of Ronson’s unit and surprised him with the opportunity.

She said the couple have been talking to each other from home via computer video but something like watching their daughter’s birth would have a cost thousands of dollars.

Paying a flat monthly fee for satellite time, Freedom Calls Foundation has connected tens of thousands of military members in Iraq and their families with free video calls and video conferencing since 2005, said the organization’s executive director, John B. Harlow II.

The foundation has done video conferencing calls for everything from graduations to helping soldiers say goodbye to dying family members, Harlow said.

It took two years to convince hospitals that birthing video conferencing can be done without disrupting the hospital’s routine, interrupting its computer system or breaching confidentiality requirements, he said.

The foundation, which is supported by corporate and individual donations, hopes to expand its services to Afghanistan, Harlow said.

Ranson is a supporter.

“It should be available for Army, Navy, Marines, Coast Guard,” he said. “It’s a great opportunity to increase morale.”

Just like babies.

Mike Archbold: 253-597-8692

mike.archbold@thenewstribune.com

Freedom Calls Foundation

Address: 45 Park Place S., Suite 167

Morristown, N.J. 07960

Telephone: 973-290-7886

Founded: In 2003 as a public charity

Web site: www.freedomcalls.org