By Dennis Rainey
How was your weekend? I know, you’ve slept since then!
Ours? I’m glad you asked. It was FANTASTIC!!! Barbara and I had a VERY productive, memorable weekend.
Our daughter Laura and hubby Josh were expecting their second baby in early August. They had decided to not learn the sex of the baby and allow the rest of us to participate in God’s “Greatest Reveal Party” at birth! Laura was scheduled to have a C-section at 7 a.m. on Monday. Man plans, but God determines the outcome …
On Friday about noon Barbara received an urgent call from Laura: “I think you need to hurry over here. NOW! I think I’m in labor early. I’m running by the doc’s office to confirm.”
Barbara immediately moved into “mom overdrive” and announced to me, “Pack your bags, Laura thinks she in labor. She may be headed to the hospital soon!”
I saluted and matched Barbara’s intensity with my own “dad overdrive” and began throwing clothing and gear into Barbara’s car.
As I packed, I remembered our first pregnancy and Barbara’s declaration, “I think I’m in labor! We need to go to the hospital …. NOW!” I sprinted into action, threw Barbara’s packed suitcase into the car then calmly broke every driving law in the universe as we raced across town toward the hospital. We’d passed the halfway point when I turned to Barbara and with a degree of youthful male pride said, “You know, I don’t know why people make such a big deal out of having a baby. I’m not nervous. There’s really nothing to it!”
To which Barbara calmly pointed out, “Oh really? Is that why you just ran that red light?”
As it turned out, Barbara was experiencing false labor. We went back home, well under the speed limit.
On the edge of our seats
As I was thinking about this false alarm from almost 46 years ago, the phone rang again with Laura confirming the change of plans: A C-section would be performed at 5 p.m. “HURRY!”
“Hurry” turned to “scurry” as we quickly locked the house and headed east, Barbara texting Laura and her siblings the whole way.
We arrived at 4 p.m. Of course, the hospital was on Covid-19 lockdown for visitors, so we went directly to their house to care for their son, Lincoln. Laura was being prepped for the C-section.
Five p.m passed. A text: “Another mom is pushing … it’s her sixth … have to wait a little longer.”
Six o’clock came. Still no info.
Laura’s five siblings, their spouses and kids are spread out in five cities from Nashville to Arkansas to Dallas to Colorado. Collectively, all were on the edge of their seats and all were texting, demanding to know what was going on.
Then came the word that the baby had arrived at 6:08. Mom and baby were healthy. We exhaled.
The Great Reveal
But Laura’s husband, Josh, was in stealth mode.
God’s GREAT REVEAL was top secret. Josh curtly texted, “Stay tuned.”
At 8:02, the phone rang again with yet another urgent directive from Josh. “Jump in the car and hurry to the hospital. NOW!”
Josh went on, “Park in the parking deck and come around the back of the hospital and you can see Laura and baby through the first-floor window … but hurry, the nurses are wanting to move us to our room.”
“HURRY!!!”