baby Jane has officially arrived!!

baby Jane's arrival was quite the story. I will try my best.

Friday. New Year's Eve. December 31st. 2010

My wife, Ali, was jerked out of her enjoyable slumber by some decent contractions around 4:30 in the morning. Although she had felt some minor contractions before, she had the gut feeling that these might be a little different. Unable to sleep, she decided to go to the gym (I know - what the??). Later that morning, after a few more contractions had come and gone, Ali told me that she thought that the baby would likely come today. She didn't really sound too anxious so I had this idea of sometime later that night. Plus, most babies tend to come late at night anyways, right?

Ali goes to visit her dad while I head to the office. Around noon, Ali sends me a text saying that she was still having contractions with no real sense of urgency. Around one, she calls me and tells me that the contractions are starting to come on pretty consistently. I finish up a few more things at the office, and then leave. On my way home, she calls me again and I can tell by her voice that she is in some serious pain. Thankfully, Ali's sister, Liz, was able to come over and watch Siri while we rush to the hospital. I get home around 1:15pm and find Ali coming down the driveway anxious to get the heck out of here and to the hospital. She gets in my car and we race to the freeway towards the hospital.

We are coming from the Bangerter Highway exit (13800 S) and have to get to IMC off of 5300 S so we start racing north. At this point the contractions are consistent and they are ruthless. I glance over to see Ali wincing in pain every few minutes. She tells me to call 911 because "this baby is coming!" So I call the dispatch, let them know that my wife is on the verge of having the baby and ask them what the flip I should do. She explains that we can pull over and wait for the ambulance or have them alert the hospital that we are coming and to get ready for us. We immediately ditch the ambulance idea because this baby is practically here. The dispatch stays on the line with me and keeps asking, "Do you see any body parts yet?" And I am thinking to myself, "Well, I'm swerving in and out of traffic, going 80+ with a screaming wife in the passenger's seat, one hand on the wheel and one hand holding the phone - let me check!

We just pass 7200 S exit and the roads start to get a bit hairy. The main section of each lane is still fairly dry and clean but the dividing lines and shoulders have a good amount of snow built up. And as I am changing lanes so that I can exit at the 5300 S exit, the car hits some snow and starts fishtailing.

Crap.

As we swerve back and forth trying to correct, I hear Ali screaming and the dispatch on the phone wondering what the heck is going on. Miraculously, and undoubtedly thanks to some divine help, we manage to regain control of the car, slow down, and exit the freeway.

1:41 pm - After two of the longest lights in human history we turn into the hospital and find two nurses out front with a wheelchair. We get Ali in the chair and rush her into the delivery room. The contractions are so violent at this point that we have to wait in between them to get her up onto the bed. We get her on the bed and the nurses quickly discover that the she is crowning. Yep, the baby's here all right.

1:47 pm - After some serious contractions and Ali repeatedly telling me to shut up, the baby came out. Literally, six minutes after we got to the hospital, she was out. Welcome baby Jane! 8 pounds, 21inches, arriving in dramatic fashion.

Afterwards, we joked that Ali always wanted to give birth naturally. And now she has.