No, not for me, silly. Stop it. But at work, I had a boy! I get a stork award! Here it is:
Working 911 fire/medical, you get birth calls regularly, if not often. Nine times out of ten, the contractions are in full swing, but the baby is still an hour or more away. Sometimes you get the real deal, screaming and pushing, the baby almost out, and then the silly paramedics get there too fast, and you miss the new baby’s entrance. Or you get the call after the baby’s born, and they just need an ambulance for transport.
But tonight, I got the whole deal, answered the phone and Almost-Dad-But-Not-Quite-Yet was screaming almost as loudly as Hang-On-Just-A-Second-You’re-Almost-A-Mom. "It’s coming out! The baby’s coming! Oh my god!"
In the length of time it took me to verify his address and phone number, to get her age and vital stats, the baby was all the way out. We got through the whole thing: making sure the baby was breathing and crying, cleaning the baby, wrapping the baby, tying the umbilical cord, delivering and wrapping the placenta.
Then I asked Now-You’re-A-Daddy, "Is it a boy or a girl?"
He said, "It’s a boy." Pause. "It’s a BOY!" You could hear that he hadn’t really fully realized it until he said it out loud for the first time.
"Congratulations, daddy." I said.
"Thank you! It’s a BOY!"
Dude. That was cool. And okay, I gave myself the stork award, since we always talk about them and no one ever really gets one, but I wanted it. So there it is. Woot! Happy birthday, kid. It’s a good world. Welcome.
Let me be the first to add my signature to your stork award! Well done. That’s gotta be a profound experience. And I’ve always wondered what it’s like for you 9-11 operators when you only get to work on part of the call. Those incomplete experiences must stick in your head. Do you have ways of finding out outcomes to situations?
Glad all turned out well with this one.
~~Melissa
(aka Pioneer Woman with Cell Phone)
congratulations! how very cool.
what a story to start the morning with. Welcome to the world, little boy!
This just made me cry! How cool is THAT!? Do you get to meet him!?!?
Ok that is super sweet! gave me chills.
I often wonder how many people wait to long to drive calmly to the hospital. I guess a lot, huh?
CAKE I say you should eat cake today,if you don’t like cake, you could have it’s side-kick ice cream.
Now as you eat cake/ice cream,sing/hum Happy Birthday to the 911 baby. Happy cake day.
dennyx0xxo
What a cool experience. I hope they send you a thank you note. 😉
How wonderful! I helped deliver my friend’s baby boy five years and one month ago, and it was a similarly amazing experience. I loved the father’s reaction. Did you get to talk to the mother?
FANTASTIC work Rachael!
Wow, that is very cool!
Awesome! Fantastic! Great! 🙂
Aw, I got teary. I think this makes you the Fairy Godmother.
; )
Thanks for sharing this, Rachel…and Congratulations!
A call like this must make the sad/harder calls worth it.
AAAH! Did you bawl? Ok, I’m bawling right now! Damn, I’m hormonal. Congrats! 😀
I love that you say “it’s a great world.” It’s so nice to run into people who still think it’s a good enough world to bring a baby into. It gives me hope and makes me feel like it’s still OK to want to have one.
wow that is awesome! Congrats at helping bring a baby boy into the world. very very neat!
Okay, I had to cry a little, too. That is sweet. Good way to start the work week!
*sniffle* What a great experience for you 🙂
I bet it’s days like this that make those awful shift hours worth while.
Congratulations!
You have such a cool job!
Congratulations! What a rewarding experience that must have been!
That’s great! You got to experience it without having to see any of the blood and such! But uh, what were they doing that they didn’t realize mom was in full-on labor?
That is so cool!! Congratulations! Sure makes a work day exciting, huh?
Aw! Hooray for new baby boy, and hooray for you for helping him get here. 🙂 You do good work, lady!
who better than YOU
to welcome him into the world
and tell his First Story!
Wear the Stork tiara proudly
you GODMOTHER you!
xoxoxoxox
What an experience! I’m laughing with tears in my eyes — you’re quite good at conveying the feel of a scene! Well done, both at work and in writing.
That is totally awesome!!! Congratualtions on your stork-a-licious achievement!!
That is so cool!!! It even brought tears to my eyes. Way to go, you!
OK, why am I crying? I don’t even know these people. YOU don’t even (really) know these people. That was a great story. Thanks for sharing!!
yay!!! great story! thank you for sharing!!!
Awesome. That had to be some rush!!!
It’s a Boy! Yippee!! You’re a STORK!! Hooray for you. What a wonderful feeling. 🙂
Way cool. Made my eyes all watery.
Yeah!!!
That is such a goosebumpy story! I love it. Good job, Rach! What a lucky little boy that his daddy called you.
Very cool.
told you you were going to have a baby – remember those weird dreams of a few weeks ago???
Are they going to name him Rachael? I wonder what they were doing that was more pressing of a matter than the water breaking and contractions and baby head coming out of momma that they forgot to go the hospital? A really good movie? Making fudge? Finishing the suduko puzzle?
Congrats honey!
Awesome!! Congratulations. That is so freaking cool.
My mom’s an EMT, and in our town they have real stork pins that the EMT’s and firefighters who’ve been at a delivery get. I think you should institute a similar tradition.
You have the coolest job in the world. We never get wonderful life moments like that in my line of work.
Congratulations! I know this job has nothing to do with what you went to school for, but I think the people who get you on the phone when they most need someone to be calm and kind and reassuring are very lucky you’re there.
OMG that is SO cool! And to hear the joy in the fathers voice must have been priceless 🙂
Silvia, sometimes babies just COME! I was almost born on the toilet. Mom thought she had to have a bowel movement. Really 🙂
Cooooooooool! ^^
what a beautiful story. i love that dad was so focused on his spouse and delivering a healthy baby that he didn’t think about gender until asked. what a great guy. (well, that’s what i added to the story anyway ;))
Being on the verge of labor myself, and most likely to do it at home too (but on purpose and with the aid of a very experienced midwife), you got me all teary-eyed. Sweet story.