We're home!

(Dave writing, as Heather relaxes, so bear with me...)

Well, it was an interesting night for sure. Most of you have already seen NATIONAL (!) coverage of this - first, a local TV station picked up the story but now we've heard it's been on Long Island 12 (New York), WGN (Chicago), KABC in Los Angeles, CNN as well as Headline News. This was the first piece below... similar, or straight copies have permeated the ol' Internet since yesterday. If you see it linked somewhere, let me know - we want to print them out for posterity!

http://www.wral.com/news/local/story/2768911/

but in case you don't want to read or watch, here's the scoop.

About 9:30 Friday night, Heather was on the computer and mentioned her contractions were "feeling different." So, I went to bed, and she planned to shortly. About 12:15, she called her mom to come over, and woke me up to let me know it was time. 4 min. apart, about 30 seconds long. The doc said it was a little early, but OK to come in, so I started loading the car while Heather drew a bath and hopped in to relax and try to slow down the contractions (which sped up whenever she was walking around.)

Well, my first trip back upstairs, I hear Heather yelling that her water broke in the tub! Contractions coming quicker now, about 2-3 minutes apart. Now Mal is awake too, so I went in to try to console her, and she fell back asleep. We made it from the tub, to the bed, to get dressed and downstairs over the course of the next several contractions...

As we are leaving the neighborhood, Heather told me she felt like she had to push! I race as fast as we can down Smithfield Rd., a nice, curvy stretch of two-lane blacktop :) Finally, we reach a spot to pull over, so I dialed 911 and told them what was happening. The operator said she tells people to just let labor happen... At this point, Heather says she feels like the baby is coming out, and we both could feel Kiley's little head pushing against her pants - she was crowning for sure!

Faster we went, and we knew there was no shot in making the hospital in time. I told the 911 operator I was headed for a nearby fire station, and off we went. We got on 264, and Heather couldn't help but push – it was an uncontrollable urge. With her pants to her knees, Heather is leaned back in the front passenger seat of the Odyssey, one hand on the "oh-$&%#" handle above the window and as I look down, I see that my daughter's head is out! A moment later, it's all over, as I see Heather simply reach down with her left hand and scoop Kiley up to her chest in one swift, simple motion, like she'd delivered a thousand babies before!

Now we're really freaking out... praying that everything is OK with our sweet little girl as we race for the fire station. As we approached, I laid on the horn as often as I could, hoping that every extra second would be to Kiley's benefit. Heather could see her breathing, but Kiley had yet to cry, which worried us. When we arrived, three firefighters came out, with oxygen for the baby and a stretcher for Heather. EMTs arrived a few minutes later (the longest minutes of my life) and quickly assessed the situation. One look at Kiley, and they assured me she was going to be just fine, which was a huge relief.


On the ride over in the ambulance, Heather was joined by two firefighters and the EMTs, who greeted me at the hospital. We went straight to triage – which ironically, is where we would have gone BEFORE having Kiley, and spent a few minutes getting Kiley and Heather cleaned up and ready to go. Praise God, neither of them had a single complication, or needed any unusual help/assistance to get back to "normal" We checked into our room a few minutes later, where we stayed for the duration.

God is amazing - so many things could have gone wrong that night - my crazy driving, or anything with Heather or Kiley's help, but everything went according to His plan. The news got around the hospital quickly, and eventually reached WRAL-TV in Raleigh, who sent a reporter and cameraman over on Monday to talk with us.

From the comments we've heard (other than the few who said that I should have driven 55 the whole way while this was happening!), everyone says that it's nice to see such an uplifting, incredible story in the midst of the violence and bad stories that litter the news every night. We met with a local newspaper reporter today for a story that will run next week as well, and hope that our crazy night continues to make people smile.

(And, Kiley did a great job of *not* making a big mess of the van - what little mess there was cleaned right up (thanks, Folex!)

Mallory loves her little sister so much already, it's so sweet to see her shower her with kisses and care - I can't wait to see them when they are older! Enough for tonight - if you watch the WRAL link above, there are two videos on there with lots of great shots of little Kiley Grace!