01/10/2026
First phone call the midwife receives is “Hey MeriBeth, it’s Joe. How are you?” Sleepy me: I’m good Joe but It’s 12:45 am so I am assuming you’re about to make life more interesting for me. (Thinking I am getting called out to a labor.) Dad (laughing): I guess you can say that. Uhm… my wife is telling me that she has to push. Suddenly very awake Me: she what?! Dad: yeah it’s weird because she’s not even having regular contractions. I mean now she is but literally two contractions ago they were still over 5 and sometimes 10 or 15 minutes apart! And I mean, she is still able to talk through them! (Wife is still talking in the background affirming what he’s saying.) We were just sitting on the couch. We came in to go to bed and she laid down on her left side and now she’s saying she has a ton of pressure and wants to push. She hasn’t even really been in labor yet. So… is that accurate… could she actually be ready to push? me: well Joe if this is what she is saying is happening, then that’s what is happening. I’m going to stay on the phone with you. We need to call the assistant (on the other phone) and hopefully she can get there before the baby does. Dad: oh, that would be good. She should get here in plenty of time. She is only about 15 minutes away. Me: let’s hope this baby gives us that long. Dad: you really think it’s gonna happen that fast? Like—- you really think that she’s ready to push? Me: (((smiles as I am running out the door))) absolutely. Baby born at 1:25am. This is homebirth. When a woman is comfortable and in a safe environment, labor can sneak up on you.
