James Van Der Beek helped to deliver his third child

Actor James Van Der Beek played the role of delivery nurse in January (14) when his wife Kimberly went into early labour at home.

The couple had planned to have a home birth, but the doctor and nurse had yet to arrive when Kimberly's contractions indicated she was ready to give birth.

Their midwife turned up just in time for the arrival of their baby daughter Annabel, but the former Dawson's Creek star reveals he was the one who had to catch the girl as she entered the world.

He recalls, "We had the birthing tub there and we had a midwife on the way and I started filling up the tub and my wife said, 'I think I'm in early labour', and she has them quickly, so I knew immediately to fill up the tub...

"She got in the tub, had the baby before the doctor even got there... I caught the baby (as she came out)... I didn't even ask the midwife! I realized after... When you're a dad of two and you see a baby just drop, you go in."

The Van Der Beeks, who wed in 2010, are also parents to two-year-old son Joshua and daughter Olivia, three.