Alexis Marie Bredestege could wait; the United States Navy couldn't.

        At 3:59 p.m. on New Year's Day, the 7-pound, 9-ounce Alexis Marie entered the world, nearly 20 hours after her mother, Cara Bredestege, was admitted to Mercy Franciscan Hospital in Mount Airy.

Cara Bredestege holds Alexis Marie, who was born Jan. 1. The baby's dad, Andrew, had to ship out just days before. (Ernest Coleman photo) | ZOOM |

        But her father, Petty Officer Andrew Bredestege, missed the blessed event. He had to ship out six days earlier to an air base in California to enter a training school; and the Navy waits for no man — or baby.

        “He's as proud and happy as can be, but a little sad too,” said the 22-year-old sailor's mother, Cheryl Bredestege. “He wanted so much to be here.”

        He almost was. Petty Officer Bredestege and his wife were apart for much of her pregnancy while he was serving aboard the USS Enterprise.

        His aircraft carrier sped to the Arabian Sea after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11. The USS Enterprise was involved in the air war against Afghanistan until early November, when another carrier arrived and the USS Enterprise headed back to its home port in Norfolk, Va.

        Cara Bredestege had a due date of Dec. 29, but Petty Officer Bredestege was hoping the baby would come while he was back home for Christmas leave, Dec. 22-26.

        There were a couple of false alarms, including one while the young father-to-be was staying with his wife and her parents in Cheviot. But there was no wiggle room in his Dec. 26 reporting date, and he had to leave.

Bredestege

        But, on Tuesday, as the baby was about to come, nurses at Mercy Franciscan set up an open phone line with the young sailor, and he listened in as the birth unfolded. Both baby and mother made it through the delivery in fine shape.

        “It was as close as we could come to having him there,” Cheryl Bredestege said.

        To Cheryl Bredestege, there was irony in the fact that her first grandchild was born while the baby's father was away serving in the military.

        Fifty years ago this month, Cheryl Bredestege was born while her father, Cliff Wuebbling, was serving in the Korean War halfway around the world.

        Cheryl Bredestege and her husband, Tom, shot video of the birth. Now, a family friend is preparing an Internet version they can e-mail to Andrew so he can get his first look at his daughter.
       

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