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I got my first taste of rushing to delivery yesterday. Now granted, we are only 16 weeks in so it wasn’t “the real deal” but it was enough to fool the poor nurse in the random hospital parking lot! Guess I have to explain this one…

Without going into too much detail, Mom-to-be had been experiencing some slightly discomforting pregnancy pains over this last weekend. It was nothing too highly unusual but something to be paid attention to. Realizing this, we emailed Doctor Ramos and asked him his opinion. He wanted us to make an appointment for the same day so we did.

Now being as I work downtown and Megan works in the southwest side of town, we had quite the challenge on our hands because we’re still sharing one vehicle. (see part 2) Megan said I didn’t have to go but I’d never forgive myself if bad news came so I was determined to figure the logistics out. Then it came to me. I needed to take the Houston Metro train!

The office at Houston Center is but a brisk 3-block walk away from Main Street metro rail. I thought, I’ve had to take this train before (Houston Rodeo, etc.) so I really expected nothing worse than sitting next to some dubiously-stinky people or having to stand up the whole way. But whoa, I was totally wrong.

After boarding, the train passed through downtown, midtown, and Rice University with no issues until it stopped abruptly in the Med Center area. It was there that the conductor announced over the loudspeaker that there had been an accident ahead and the train was turning around to go back downtown. At this point, I’m just short of a full-scale panic given that our appointment time at the OB was no less than 20 minutes away. So what’s a guy to do?

Well, in this situation, the decision was simple. Despite the satin shirt, the already-uncomfortable dress shoes, and the ten-pound laptop bag slung across my shoulder, I ran. Yep. You heard correctly. I ran probably just short of two miles in sweltering 95 degree Texas heat, cutting across parking lots and hospital upon hospital until I got to where Megan was. Like I said in the beginning, I even managed to freak out a nurse in one of the parking garages along the way. Asking her for directions in all my sweaty, frantic, out-of-breath glory (I don’t even run that much at the gym with workout clothes and sneakers on), she got the impression that my wife was in labor so she started panicking as well! Fear not though, after a little clarification I got directions on how to cut through where and made it just a few minutes short of actually seeing the doctor. Found out the baby is okay and I even got my brownie points from mom-to-be to boot!

Baby, if you’re listening, Daddy says you better be worth it! 😛

This entry was posted on June 16, 2009 at 4:47 pm and is filed under Fatherhood. You can subscribe via RSS 2.0 feed to this post's comments.

Tags: 16-weeks, delivery, Fatherhood, Houston Center, Houston Metro, Houston Rodeo, Metro Rail, OB, pregnancy, pregnancy pains, Rice University