Wednesday morning at 10:30, my wife gave birth to our second child, a girl,
in the back seat of our Volkswagon Jetta.
She called me at my office at 10 to say she was sure she was in labor, and I
should probably come on home. Meanwhile, she called friends at her office,
just to chat and share the good news. These friends insisted on coming over
to wait with her for me, which it turns out was very good luck. My wife
visited with her friends, walking around and gritting her teeth through the
contractions for about 10 minutes, and then said they'd probably better just
leave me a note and drive on to the hospital.
I passed them all in our car on the way home, wondering why on earth my wife
decided to take a second car and a car load of friends to the hospital; but
I turned around and followed. At 10:23, at a traffic light in front of the
hospital, our daughter's head popped out. At 10:25, at the emergency room
entrance, doctors delivered the 7-pound, 4-ounce baby, who we named Erika
Anne Riggs.
Mother and daughter are fine; Dad's sort of wondering out to get blood
stains out of velour upholstery... (the nurses say hydrogen peroxide works
pretty well).
Obligatory British Car Content: If I'd had the transmission in the TR6, I'm
sure I could have gotten home quicker and gotten her to the hospital on
time...
Kevin Riggs
Huntsville Al.
rkriggs@ingr.com
|