Journey Inside My Mind Blog: Out She Comes!, Part 1

Thursday, July 17, 2003

Out She Comes!, Part 1

During the last month that Jennie was pregnant with Keisha, we would go to the doctor’s office every week to see how far she was. The next appointment happened to be on Thursday, July 17, 1997, at 2 PM:

We woke up that morning just as we had done in previous mornings. After eating breakfast and studying my Bible, I drove the hour-long drive from Fairborn to Sidney, Ohio, where I worked as an Environmental Engineer.

I had been struggling with getting the Release Prevention Control and Countermeasure (RPCC) Plan finished. Also that day we had a water-based paint waste pick up, which I was required to supervise.

At about 11 AM, just as I had finished all the paperwork for the waste shipment, my pager went off. I looked down to see what it said: 431-0014 911, which was the code Jennie and I had agreed upon to indicate that it was time for me to take her to the hospital. Could it really be THE time? I thought.

I walked over to the Shipping and Receiving office, which was located nearby and called my wife.

“I think I might have had my water broken. I called the doctor’s office, and they said that I shouldn’t go in for my appointment but instead that we should go straight to the hospital.”

“OK,” I said. “Let me go back to my office so that I can drop off my stuff, and I’ll be on my way.” As I hustled back to my office, I told all my other co-workers that today was the day. “We’re going to the hospital!”

When I got to the car, I noticed that – of course – I was almost out of gas. Remember that we lived an hour away from where I worked and Jennie’s water had just broken.

to be continued...

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