- An act of kindness by a complete stranger
helped my next guest during the birth of their first child.
Please welcome Julie and six-week old Cooper,
and Sergeant Seth Craven who joins us live via Skype
from Afghanistan.
Okay.
Firstly, I mean sir,
thank you so much for your service,
congratulations on the little guy,
I mean you had planned to return from duty
for the birth of your son,
but what happened?
- Luckily, I work with some
really awesome people over here.
They were able to get everything worked out,
get me home.
I flew out of Afghanistan on Monday,
made it to Philly on Wednesday,
I was supposed to be home in Charleston that night,
and we're on the runway getting ready to take off,
and they pull us back to the gate.
- Oh gosh.
- They're like oh okay well it's canceled.
It was like 4:30 in the afternoon,
and that's when Charlene,
I met Charlene, she actually just walked right up to me
and was like,
"Hey I heard you're having a baby on Friday.
I have to be in Charleston tomorrow.
I'm not letting you miss the birth of your baby".
- Oh that is so special.
Oh my god. - She drove him?
- Charlene drove him like eight hours.
Like over eight hours.
- Are you serious. - That's insane.
- Yeah. - So he got in the car
with her and drove. - Yes.
What was going, how were you doing?
'Cause you're being updated and you're like
are you serious? You're in the country?
- I mean to be honest,
I'd like to be like oh I was so strong,
and I was doing fine I was trying to stay positive,
no, I was freaking out.
I was freaking out. - Yeah.
It's your first kid!
That's like a really big deal.
- Exactly.
I was thinking okay for one,
I may have to do this alone,
and to be honest,
he had actually tried to mentally prepare me for this,
what if I don't get to come home you have to be strong
for you and Cooper.
You have to be strong if you have to do this alone.
So that part, I was still freaking out,
but I kind of expected maybe that would happen.
The second thing was that he may miss
this important experience.
So I was really upset
that he may have to miss the birth of his son.
- And, people don't get especially when it's your first kid,
like yes women have babies all the time right.
But there are things that can happen.
I mean I know many women that things have happened
on the table, or right in the minute.
- Exactly - And that's terrifying.
It's a terrifying thing.
So to go through that alone is not cool.
- No. Well I had never had a major surgery like that,
and I was thinking what if I bleed,
what if anything happens
and my husband's not here. - Oh I kept thinking
I'm never gonna feel my legs again.
I was like I'm never gonna feel my legs again,
it's gone,
I had a good time with 'em,
they're gone.
(girls laugh)
I was terrified.
Have you ever missed like a life changing moment?
I feel like I've missed plenty 'cause of my career.
- Again, we're talking about a service man who's probably
missed tons of those,
but being a performer I've missed weddings,
funerals, you know graduations.
But I can't imagine,
people forget I have lots of military in my family.
To Charlene, whoever you are,
you're our hero. - Yeah.
- That's such a kind thing, I know.
So Seth, how anxious were you during the eight hour drive,
'cause that's a long road trip,
first of all with complete strangers,
the small talk must've,
I would be nervous.
But how was that, how was the whole drive?
- I don't think I was as anxious as they were.
(girls laugh)
Mainly just 'cause I'm not a small guy,
and they're putting a complete stranger in their car.
But, the small talk, we clicked really early on.
Made it easy.
And Charlene's awesome.
I mean we still keep in touch.
She's super nice, her husband's super nice.
I've talked to both of 'em.
- So after all of that, did he make it?
- He did make it.
It was about five, not quite five hours,
four and a half hours before.
- Wow. - Yeah.
- So he got to be there with you right before
everything really got serious. - Yes.
Well at that point we were both freaking out,
once he got in the car with Charlene,
I thought okay he's gonna make it here eventually,
even if he's a little late it'll be okay.
I really didn't want him to miss that moment,
but he was coming.
- Were you being like get in there, stay in there.
(Kristin laughs)
- I was like I'm gonna cross my legs.
- Don't eat anything hot. All the things.
- Yeah. - That's amazing
that he made it.
So tell us about the moment
that Seth walked through the door.
Were you finally just relieved?
- Yes.
At that moment, I was just like oh thank God.
He's here.
I think his reaction was more heartfelt than mine.
When he came in and pretty much fell to the knees,
put his head on my belly,
put his hands around my belly,
and was in tears,
and I thought you know thank God you're finally here.
We're gonna be able to do this together.
- Aw. - Well you guys. Okay!
So Sergeant Craven, what's it like?
I mean y'all have your first child now?
You loving it?
- Yes. It's awesome.
It's something like,
everybody tells you how important that is
and how big of a deal it is,
and you don't understand.
Until you're there in that moment.
- No it is an incredible thing.
And then, did you also have the thing that I had,
I'd be like oh,
then I'd be like oh my God I'm responsible for this.
- Yeah, still have those moments I guess.
- Yeah. I know me too,
but did you ever get to meet Charlene?
Did you ever?
- No, unfortunately, it was really late at night,
it was after midnight, probably about 12:30 at night
when she dropped him off.
She brought him all the way to our home,
but I didn't know that they were even out there
until he came in the door, shut the door,
put his things down,
we had our moment,
and I was like okay so where's this wonderful lady at.
That brought you all the way here, this angel.
And she was already gone.
She had to be up early the next morning,
- And she'd been driving a bit.
- She'd been driving all night.
So they were tired, she was tired,
so we didn't get that chance to really thank her
for what she had done for us.
- Oh man.
Well, let's make that happen.
Please welcome Charlene! - Oh my god.
- What!
- Come this way. I'm Kelly! - Hi!
(upbeat music)
- Look baby.
- He's adorable. - Oh my god.
- Sit here, you scoot down here.
Charlene, sit right here.
(crowd cheers)
I mean. - Say hi.
Say hi, Charlene.
- Before I even get to my first question,
you're such a frickin' cool human.
(Charlene laughs)
We all have lives right.
We all have things we have to do.
And you just were like sure, I'll take a road trip
with this stranger, and get him to the birth of his child.
Like, you're a really nice person.
- Amazing. Our angel.
- I mean how does it feel to meet him?
- He is so cute,
and you're beautiful. - Oh thank you.
You're beautiful. - Oh my god, Seth did well.
- Yes he did. He did well there too.
- I know. He's wakin' up.
- Little Cooper is so- - Say hello. Oh.
- I mean honestly,
what inspired you to drive eight hours.
- First and foremost,
I'm a mother of two beautiful daughters.
- Oh. They're so great. - And, you know,
I remember what it was like
to see my husband hold them for the first time.
And when I looked over and saw Seth,
he was sitting on the floor and he had his head down,
and he just looked so sad.
And I thought, I gotta help this guy.
And we were raised to,
if we met somebody that was in the military
or a police officer,
you would say thank you for your service.
And, I just knew immediately this was a good way
to say thank you.
- Oh my gosh.
(crowd claps)
That's so nice
I'm totally gonna cry, it's fine.
- I can't. I can't.
Listen, I'm Kristin. - Hi, huge fan.
- I just wanna say, will you adopt me too?
(crowd laughs)
- Great, well what would you like to say
to Charlene, you finally get to meet her.
- Thank you.
I mean you're an angel,
that's obviously the most important thing,
and that you literally changed our lives with this moment.
For me and Seth both to be able to experience this,
he's my best friend,
I love him more than anything,
other than Cooper.
Sorry honey.
(Kelly laughs)
Close second.
That he got to be there for me in this moment
and that he got to be there for him in this moment,
because it's a bigger moment than you realize
until you're in it.
It's something you never wanna miss.
- Totally.
Oh my God, okay.
So what did you ask.
This is what I love.
Tell them what you asked for in return.
You didn't ask for anything in return,
just one thing.
What did you ask for?
- Some photos of the baby.
- I know he's so cute.
Were they really cute photos? - Yes.
- So that's the first thing he made me do.
He said we have to take some selfies for Charlene
because that's all she wanted in return.
So that's what we did.
- That's so kind.
I love you.
Oh my gosh,
so wait Seth. - Oh Seth.
- Sergeant Craven. - Hi!
- This is what he looks like in uniform.
So when do you get to come home next
and hold little Cooper?
- In the spring time.
We'll be home early spring, so it'll be nice.
- Awesome. Okay but do you have help?
That's my question.
(girls laugh)
I mean some mamas coming, some aunts, some sisters.
- It takes a village, it really does.
- Yes!
- We have his grandmother and grandfather
that help a lot that are in the area.
- Well make sure, it took me a minute to ask for help.
But don't do it all.
'Cause you feel like oh I'm a mom,
I feel guilty if I'm not with my kid all the time.
Like, take the nap.
They'll be fine.
They'll be fine,
take the nap, have grandma come over.
- Yes. - Sit with him,
and take the nap.
And maybe a glass of wine.
(Kristin laughs)
Unless you're breastfeeding.
(Kelly laughs)
- Just a little one.
- Well Sergeant Craven,
thank you so much for joining us.
I know you have to get back to protecting us
and our freedom,
so we really wanna say thank you so much for your service.
Stay safe.