Titans' Byard helped deliver his newborn son at home
Tennessee Titans safety Kevin Byard welcomed a baby boy into the world on Aug. 23, though it didn't unfold the way he was expecting.
As Byard explained Wednesday, his wife, Clarke, went into labor with their son, Kevin Leon Byard IV, a day before her due date and ended up delivering the baby at their Nashville home.
Byard said Clarke woke him up at 10:30 p.m. after she started experiencing intense contractions, according to Erik Bacharach of the Tennessean. Byard called their doula to meet them at the hospital, but it became clear they wouldn't make it there in time.
The doula, who was on speaker phone, suggested Byard help his wife into the bathtub.
"So I'm like, 'OK, well, let's try to get her on her feet,'" Byard recalled. "So I'm trying just to check back there, kind of pulled her pants down a little bit just to see what’s going on, and the head was already poking out. So at this point, I'm back out there like, 'Oh man, the head's poking out!' Talking to the doula, she's like, 'OK, just tell her to start breathing. Relax. And just tell her to start pushing. The baby's coming.'"
Byard said the experience took about 30 minutes and he's looking forward to sharing it with his son one day.
"That's a story that I'm going to be able to tell my son for the rest of our days," he said.