Time is tightening

On September 9th while I was trying to get as much work done as possible in my home office, my wife came to me and said, "Babe, I'm definitely having contractions."

It probably took me a minute to register her words, not because I was shocked, but because I was immersed in my work. I seem to recall that I was inputting some stock market data from my portfolio so I could do some analysis. Even after the words registered, I thought I had time. I told her to keep track of the intervals, and let me know when they get regular.

Eventually the pain got too bad for her to keep track of time, so I manned the stop-watch resetting the chronograph every time she yelled "BABE!" as the pain mounted.

Very soon all the contractions were coming at less than 10 minute intervals. A few started to come after only 5 minutes, so she asked I call Dr. J.

The office said don't bother coming to the hospital until the contractions have been consistently starting every 5 minutes for an hour. Cool, I still had time.

I needed all the time I could get, my life insurance medical examiner was going to be showing up at 6:00 pm. There were a few intervals below the 5 minute mark, but then the next would be closer to 10 minutes. I thought we still had at least an hour in the comfort of our home since the contractions still hadn't consistently been under 5 minutes. Medical exam, no problem.

Arriving on time, I warned the medical examiner at the door that we needed to make it quick because my wife was in labor. She threw back the frightened look of a woman who had only witnessed labor, but not actually gone through it. She backed away saying, "No, no, you go to the hospital, we'll reschedule."

Determined to get my life insurance before I became a father, and with my wife's reluctant approval, I encouraged the woman to come in and do the exam quickly. Twenty minutes later my wife opened my office door where I had just finished giving blood samples and while hanging onto the door frame said "BABE, I NEED to go to the hospital." With the exam just needing some signatures, I wrapped it up and was ready to go.

My wife however wanted to wait until after a contraction to get in the car as to avoid the agony of a contraction while driving. During of the final contractions she had at home she asked me to massage her lower back near her tail bone. She practically flinched and popped up from her crouched position and said "Oh my god, we have to go, that just made me want to push."

YIKES! I thought we had time. I've heard every woman's pregnancy is different. Could it be that my wife was seconds from pushing out a baby and might end up doing so in the car. NO, we had to have time. I wasn't ready, but that didn't matter.