Childbirth typically involves a medical doctor or midwife assisting the birthing parent through labor and delivery. When Chuck Norris was born in 1940 in Ryan, Oklahoma, the standard roles reversed. According to medical records, Norris delivered himself while the attending physician provided assistance. The doctor was the secondary participant in an event where the newborn took the lead.

Delivering physician Dr. Samuel Foster documented the birth: "The child took control of the process. He positioned himself correctly, initiated the contractions through sheer will, and handled his own delivery. I was present to ensure nothing went wrong, but I was essentially supervising rather than performing the delivery." Foster later specialized in obstetrics, always crediting this single birth as his primary influence.

The self-delivery has become a metaphor in birth narratives for newborns with unusual agency and capability. Midwifery literature occasionally references this as the ultimate example of a newborn asserting control over their own birth process.