"Baby arrives early, dad makes delivery"

"A fund has been established to help the parents of a premature baby delivered at home by its father.Charlie and Shauna Davies weren’t expecting their baby early Thursday morning, Nov. 17, but the baby had other ideas.The Freeland couple were at home when the baby decided its time had come. They called 911, and reached dispatcher Kelly Crownover who gave Charlie delivery instructions over the phone.Debra Davies, Charlie’s brother, said labor only lasted 15 minutes and the baby was “hand-delivered by dad” at 2:15 a.m. She laughed that Charlie was known for his good hands when he was a standout player on the Langley High School football team.Charlie graduated from LHS in 1980, and later became a popular teacher at Langley Middle School. He now works with special needs teenagers in the Everett area.The Davies are a family of teachers. Debra teaches special education at South Whidbey, another brother Bill teaches in Leavenworth, and mother Jo Davis recently retired after a long career as a South Whidbey elementary school teacher.Debra said baby Joe was born about two months premature at 29 weeks and he weighed three pounds at birth.The ambulance arrived at the Davies home just a minute after the delivery. Joe was transported to Whidbey General Hospital and then airlifted to Seattle.Debra Davies said Thursday that Joe is doing as well as can be expected. “He’s a scrapper,” she said. “He’s not out of the woods yet but we’re pretty optimistic.”Donations to help the family may be made at Washington Mutual Bank."

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