[oldE]

27 years ago, my wife and I had taken Natural Childbirth classes in preparation for the birth of our first. One of the things they repeated several times was the rule-of-thumb: first deliveries usually take 16 hours from the onset of labor.

My wife was due on Labor Day (how cliche), so when my brother-in-law tracked me down early in the morning on August 14 and suggested, "If you don't have anything else to do, today, you might want to go up to the hospital." I didn't panic, reasoning I had lots of time to finish the route (regular driver was away on vacation, I was the only person available to do 'deliveries'. So that is what I did.

I made it to the hospital at 5PM and was told, "She could go at ay time!" I remember it was a fantastic, sunny day and the delivery room was a double-sized area with lots of windows, which were opened to the light breeze and the sound of birds in the trees.

The only hitch was when the Doc said, "Push!" and I did, bracing my wife's shoulders. That is when we discovered no one had set the brakes on the delivery table!

My son was born a few minutes after 6 on one of the best days of my life. Total elapsed time from the time her water broke to baby's cries: 13 hours. Oh well, it's an average, I guess.

Les