There I stood.
Despite the education received in the Personal Growth class from my Catholic High School;
Despite the admonishments from my father concerning becoming “whipped”;
Despite the late bloom I would realize when it came to experiences with the opposite sex;
There I stood.
One month removed from my twenty-first birthday;
Six months away from gaining a four-year college degree in three years;
Ten months after having moved in with my first college girlfriend;
There I stood.
After crying when she first told me;
After attending every doctor’s visit with her along the way;
After months of empathy breathing in weekly Lamaze classes;
There I stood.
Having just seen the X-rays of a fetus in the breech position;
Having just called the doctor to announce her water had broke;
Having just gotten lost on the way to the hospital;
There I stood.
In a hospital cap and gown;
In a maternity surgery room;
In a state of unencumbered fear and anticipation;
There I stood.
Ready or not …
There I stood.
.
.
.
And now, thirty-five years later, I still stand here in love with the daughter they gave me to hold back then, when I knew not … where I stood.
Her belly is swollen with our future heir
when the bed sheets become all wet;
It’s off to the hospital to do the Lamaze
that for weeks we have practiced.
Excited fear is in the air
as I carefully help her into the car;
Seatbelt extensions are required
and I know just where they are.
Even at three o’clock in the morning
a maternity ward is wide awake;
Family members that I have called
arrive in the waiting room to wait.
The miracle of birth is a wonderful thing
when you are the spectator, expectant Dad;
The fact that I cannot feel the pain for her
makes me feel awfully bad.
I see the head begin to present
and my knees get wobbly and weak;
Before I faint in the busy room
I look for an empty chair to take a seat.
The piercing cries of our newborn child
produces renewed energy inside of me;
The exhausted smile on my wife’s face,
I am so happy to see.
We have a brand new girl, without a name -
we haven’t decided on one we both do like;
For as long as I live the rest of my life,
I’ll never forget this wonderful night.
The blizzard was at its peak;
Snow drifts all covered the street;
Our blazing fireplace provided the heat,
When my full term wife’s water decided to leak.
Our first baby’s time to arrive had come;
Outside visibility was close to none;
About birthing babies I had no clue;
We weren’t sure what we should do.
No one answered our 9-1-1 phone calls;
The Lamaze breathing we tried to recall,
As outside the snow continued to fall ;
This miraculous event was being no fun at all.
I pounded on my neighbor’s door,
Then we ran and got five neighbors more;
One had a snow mobile we drove down the street,
To the highway with hopes a plow driver we'd meet.
We waved down a city snow plow,
Who made it up our street some how;
In his cab my wife and I rode,
As I coached her how to pant and blow.
She was crowning as we finally arrived;
The doctors rushed her quickly inside;
I thanked the driver of that truck called Snow Wizard,
And that’s how my daughter acquired the name Blizzard.
Heather, at the bookstore, told her this would be hard
The ladies in Lamaze, all delivered safely before her, said it was a snap
Sweat didn't even form on her face
Contractions fast, pushing hard and
Now she has her baby
impromptu Lamaze
pants are what great pain puts you
through when in a pinch.
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