I'll Never Forget the Car Ride...

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[Note: this is my first "Monday Memory" which will be linked over on Life's Twisted Stitches. And you can see the great badge over there in the sidebar.]


So... I'll never forget the car ride when I was in labor with my second child. Whoa! It was actually a series of car rides, so I'll start with the very beginning. OK, not THE beginning, since I'll assume you all know how one ends up in labor. Early-ish on a June morning almost 21 years ago, I woke up feeling "funny." It was 12 days before my due date though, so here comes car ride #1. We only had one car, so every morning I drove hubby John to the subway station, and in spite of that "funny" feeling, I couldn't have been in labor. My first child was 2 weeks late and had to be induced. What really was this labor thing anyway?

Back home again, I decided that perhaps I should at least pack, and of course, pick out a cute dress, which needed ironing. As my 2 year old played, and occasionally asked mommy what was wrong, it became clear that actually I WAS in labor. I called the doctor's office, and they told me to come in and they would check, which brings us to car ride #2.

You know, you can't go to the doctor's office when you are potentially having a baby with a 2 year old in tow, so I drove her to a good friend's house which was only 5 minutes away. I discovered that it is NOT a good idea to drive when you're in labor, so my friend recruited her neighbor to act as chauffeur. This was  a mom that I knew, but not that well. Her only requirement for car ride #3 was that I sit on a towel. Whatever. I gave her directions to the doctor's office, and off we went.

Turns out baby #2 was in a hurry. Are you thinking that I gave birth in the car? Well, no, but that would be a great car ride story. We stopped at the office with instructions to proceed straight to the hospital. Do not pass go, do not collect $200. (Oops, wrong story.) Don't wait for John, who was called at the office, and told to come to the doctor's office. He got a taxi, and luckily, made it just as I was waddling back to Neighbor Woman's car. I had to give her directions to the hospital, and found out later that she thought I was kind of crabby for this fourth car ride of the morning. Well, yeah. She just dropped us off at the emergency room entrance.

About 30 minutes later:

Brian