THE DAD ZONE

    The text message caught me totally off-guard and might have sent me into shock except for one, calming fact: I didn’t believe it.

    It was a glorious Sunday morning, and my wife was at home preparing for some guests who were to come over that night for dinner and a Bible study. My youngest daughter and I were at church, but we were leaving a little early so she wouldn’t be late for work. I got to the car first, flipped open my phone and read the short, direct text message.

    “I’m in labor ... call me!”

    Yeah, right.

    We had two grandchildren due, one from our daughter and one from our daughter-in-law. But both were due in the second half of November. This text message came from our daughter on Oct. 28. This was waaaaay too early.

    Our daughter, I concluded, was having false labor, much like her mother did with our first child. We had snatched up everything and rushed off to the hospital in Monroe, La., only to be sent home for more waiting.

    Still, you don’t just ignore that type of message. So I did as instructed and called.

    As it turned out, Madeline Grace Brill had no intention of waiting until Nov. 19 to make her scheduled arrival. Thirty-six weeks and six days in the womb were plenty.

    So as our youngest daughter ap- proached the car, I waved at her to hurry along. She jogged over and wondered if she was late.

    “We gotta go,” I said, and her sisterly instinct kicked in.

    “Is someone having a baby?” And then, as she saw the nod of my head: “Which one?”

    “Ashley,” I said, and the scramble began. There were phone calls to be made, questions to be asked and, of course, an unscheduled delivery to be embraced.

    The dinner and Bible study were moved to a different location, where much prayer went out on our family’s behalf.

    Our family and friends gathered at the hospital, where we offered up our own prayers and anticipated a lengthy wait. Again, we were wrong. Little Madeline, perfectly stitched together by the hands of God, apparently inherited her grandfather’s lack of patience.

    Shortly after 6:35 p.m. Oct. 28, her transition complete, Madeline took her rightful place in her mother’s arms.

    The miracle produced much rejoicing, as all miracles should.

    There were concerns, of course. Early arrivals always bring with them some concerns. Is her breathing OK? Will she eat enough? And on and on.

    We had, among our family and friends, a pediatrician and a neo-natal pediatric nurse. If someone in your family is having a baby, by the way, I highly recommend having your own pediatrician and a neo-natal pediatric nurse on hand for the delivery. The staff at Washington Regional Medical Center in Fayetteville was wonderful, but our inside experts kept us calm and informed throughout the process.

    We needed this. Like Madeline Grace, we didn’t have much patience.

    But we know life doesn’t always happen on our timing, and some things, even if they come early, are well worth the wait.

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