This is the first of many posts about my new baby girl.

I was awakened around 7:30 by the sound of trickling water from the other side of the bed. I could only imagine what it was. My wife said, “Either my water broke or I just wet the bed.” I was shocked!

From the time we found out we were expecting our first child, the due date had been October 13. I plugged in all the information on webmd.com and walmart.com. Both of these sites gave the same date, and the doctor’s six-week ultrasound confirmed it. So on September 16, I found it very hard to believe that her water had just broken.

We called my sister-in-law, and then the hospital. We were told that we should go to the hospital to be checked out, and I read in our pregnancy book that it’s better to err on the side of caution. But we already had plans for the day, and a visit to the hospital really didn’t fit into those plans.

Some time around 8:00, we started taking showers, preparing to go to our niece’s birthday party, and we thought we would stop by the hospital to let them tell us that everything was fine. But the water kept coming. Maybe it wasn’t an accident - maybe it was her water. We just didn’t believe it.

An hour and a half after we awoke, we were on our way. My wife kept telling me not to worry about taking anything because they weren’t going to keep us at the hospital. I still took the camera, under the pretense that I needed to take pictures at the birthday party.

When we arrived at the hospital, we went straight to the OB department. When we walked in, a nurse asked if she could help us. We just stared. Finally, I said, “she thinks her water broke,” and before I could say anymore, the nurse said, “I’ll take her back here, and you need to go to the emergency room. We’ll get some paperwork filled out.” The emergency room? I just assumed that’s where she would come out when they were finished checking her, so I went to the ER waiting room. I read a newspaper. I watched TV. I even fell asleep!

It was probably twenty minutes later when a nurse came in to ask if I had filled out admissions papers. Me? It wasn’t my water! Why would I be filling out paperwork? The real reason I was sent to the ER was not to wait - it was to check in with the registrar and sign outpatient admission forms. Then I was supposed to go back to OB. That made more sense . . . I just hadn’t thought of that!

I made it back to the OB department and into the room where they had my wife hooked up to a fetal/maternal monitor. She was now in a hospital gown. I guess I had missed a lot while I was napping! When I asked if they had told her anything, she said she had no idea what was going on. Then a nurse came in and said, “Well, you’re dilated to six or seven.” And I asked, “Did her water break?” If you know much about pregnancy and childbirth, you probably know that was a stupid question . . . but remember . . . I was the one who had just spent twenty minutes in the ER waiting room!

By now it was a little after ten, and things were about to get exciting. I guess I was just full of stupid questions. We had just been to our first childbirth class the Monday before, and we still had two sessions left. The teacher of the class was the nurse who was now answering all my stupid questions. Before thinking, I asked, “does this mean we’ll have a baby today?” Well maybe she gets this kind of question all the time!

I had phone calls to make! But wait . . . I wasn’t ready. This definitely didn’t fit into my plans. Earlier that week, I had created a call list. I started with people to notify on the way to the hospital, and then I made a list of those to call once the baby was born. I had grouped people in the first category so that I had four calls to make, and then those people could call others in the category. It would definitely make for a less stressful day . . . had I had the list. Thinking we still had a month, I didn’t print the list.

I had to go half-way down the hall to get a cell phone signal. I started with my wife’s sister who was given her assignment and had to make the decision to cancel or postpone the birthday party. Then I tried my parents but wasn’t able to reach them. By this time, I decided that the next person I talked to would be assigned the rest of the calls. My uncle was given this task - one he readily accepted. I had to get back to the room.

Because my wife’s entire family was headed to the birthday party just ten miles up the road, most of them were there within minutes. My family arrived a little later. It seemed like information overload was about to hit . . . there was so much I had to remember from childbirth class, but there was so much more that I was having to find out along the way.

Sometime around 12:45, my dad went to the cafeteria to get me a barbequed hamburger, baked beans, and chips. I sat in the waiting room eating my lunch, and then I went to the cafeteria to say “hi” to my wife’s family so they wouldn’t think I was being unsociable. Then I headed back to the OB department to find the doctor preparing the room.

While I had been eating, the anesthetist was starting the epidural. What a God-send. When I returned to the room, my wife said, “I don’t hate everyone anymore. I don’t wish you would blow up.” And then came the next stupid question . . . “can I take some of that home with me?”

We had now been at the hospital a little over three hours. I asked the doctor how far she had dilated. She was now at 10. The rest of the conversation went something like this: “So we’re having a baby?” “We’re having a baby.” “Soon?” “Soon.” “Like how soon . . . within the hour?” “We’re having a baby within the hour.” Wow! The whole ordeal had just started a little over five hours ago, and now we were less than an hour away from the arrival of our first child. I couldn’t believe it!

If you know me, you know that I am very squeamish. I can’t watch the Red Cross first aid training video without passing out; I can’t stand the thought of pain; I almost passed out when the dentist said my wisdom teeth had to come out! So my plan for labor and delivery was to stand as close to the head of the bed as possible and not look at anything. But since when had any of this day followed my plan? It wasn’t about to change now.

The doctor said, “Since you’re in here, I’m not going to call in a nurse. You’re going to help me. Mock me.” I responded with, “What does that mean?” Now I have a Bachelor’s degree and I’m currently working toward my Master’s. I know what mock me means. But I didn’t want to do it, so I was hoping he meant something else. He said, “Do everything I do.” Luckily, he didn’t mean EVERYTHING! But I did hike up my wife’s leg and put her foot to my chest. As she would have a contraction, we would push on her legs so she could push the baby. I even had to get gloves out of the drawer for him! Keep in mind, this was about five minutes after I ate a barbequed hamburger and baked beans. I was now wishing I hadn’t!

After about thirty minutes of labor, the baby was almost here. I made it all the way to the episiotomy; I even saw the first cut. After that, I looked away until he finished it. I’d made it this far; I wasn’t ready to pass out now! The episiotomy seemed to make everything go much easier, and within a matter of minutes, the baby’s head was out and the doctor pulled the rest of the body out. When my wife asked, “what is it?” I choked back tears to say, “It’s a girl.”

All women over 40 have some way of telling if the baby is a boy or girl. For the past few weeks, everyone said this baby was a boy. We knew that meant nothing, and we definitely didn’t accept it as truth, but we were beginning to think that they must be right. But as I looked at that beautiful baby girl lying there with her umbilical cord still attached and covered in white slime, I was eager to welcome my daughter into the world.

Nothing in life is as miraculous as the development and birth of a baby. The past eight months have been wonderful, and they have led to the most amazing event I have ever witnessed. Seeing that new life enter the world is something that I will never forget. I’m looking forward to sharing life with her. I know she has many new experiences in store for me, and she has many lessons to teach me. It will definitely be a journey - one that I am so excited to begin!