Being in control is great when you have foresight. Parenthood removes this comfort zone and nobody tells you in advance. It's like plunging in to the sea not knowing the temperature of the water before you hit it ... you have to get used to the new environment fast or perish. It's all a new adventure and you really don't know what's in store from one day to the next, or should I say from one night to the next. A full nights' undisturbed sleep is a thing of the past and Christmas would definitely change. For me the first urgent situation was the drive into the hospital. Liz and I had discussed it at length. We live about thirty miles from the city, so a fifty minute drive was estimated with normal traffic and of course keeping to the speed limits. As soon as Liz became aware that baby was on the way I was to get a call on the mobile. I wanted to be organised and have my wife in good hands as early as possible, as I was not all too good on the medical side of things and I would feel far but feel much better if I could be sure that there was a mid wife in the room!! So after the call came I finished up and left the office to head home. I was greeted at the door by Liz's Dad. He too liked to be organised and had carefully documented the time between contractions. Both mother and father in law dutifully handed over their daughter for me to finish what I had started! Upon my arrival I was unsure of what to expect but Liz looked calm. She was totally in control. She said we still had a wait before we headed for the hospital. I as usual was unsure if the wait was to be twenty minutes or six hours, there was no set timeframe. Five hours later it was time to go, the contractions had increased as Liz expected them to and the next stage was imminent. The bag was packed for ages and had all the baby products were in it baby nappies, baby vests and all the various ointments that I would become overly familiar with over the next few months. As we sat into the car I asked are you ok" to which I got a strained glance. Our now long in the distant detailed discussions had specifically required for me to drive carefully, stopping at all the traffic lights and obeying the rules of the road. This I did as a duty filled expecting father until we got half way to the city where my calm 'co driver!!' let out a high pitched command that I speed up and get to the hospital NOW. This is every guys dream, at the wheel of the car with an expecting mother beside him being commanded to hurry up. With the smell of burning rubber from the tyres I did just that and if stopped by the police I had the perfect get out of jail card! So we did speed up to the point that we got to the hospital in a record breaking 30 minutes with no interruptions from the Law. I whisked Liz into the maternity ward and handed her over to the medical staff, where after another eight hours delivered Zac. Our lives had now changed. Little did I realise that the trip into the hospital would be the last time there would be two people in our family.
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