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Birthing Babies In Baby Stores
March 25, 2008

In 37 years we've never had a baby born in the store.  We've had people leave the store and go straight to the hospital to have a baby.  We've even had one woman whose water broke in our parking lot.  Last Friday, though, I thought we were going to break our no-births-in-store record.  

A dear friend of mine (who happens to be due in only a couple of weeks) was in the store shopping on Friday.  She and I went and had lunch with her toddler in tow.  When we returned to the store to look at glider fabric swatches, my friend had to sit because of pains in her back.  She ended up having contractions that were coming about 5 minutes apart.  

A customer, who happened to be a nurse, asked her if she was okay.  The nurse said that since she was having to breathe through contractions that this could be it.  The nurse then asked if this was my friend's first baby.  While exhaling through pursed lips, my friend pointed to her toddler.  The nurse's tone changed immediately.  She said that since this was not her first, the baby could come really quickly and she needed to get to the hospital right away.  

I called my friend's husband and sent him into a state of panic, I'm sure.  He was atleast 30 minutes away from the store.  We, at the store, were less than 10 minutes from the hospital.  All psyched up and ready for a baby, I was prepared to take her to the hospital.  She could not drive herself because of the intensity of the contractions.  We gathered her things and rounded up her daughter.  We then headed off to the hospital.  Whew!  No babies born in the store... this remains as such.

To my disappointment, the baby did not come.  The labor pains were intense and went on for the rest of the day but the baby made no progress.  We are hoping that she will have the baby some time this week (due to the fact that, based on doctors' calculations, the baby is expected to be rather large).  Perhaps the baby is waiting until my friend is back in the store.  Will we have our first birth in New Baby Products history?  Part of me hopes so!  It would be really great for business and would be a fun story for my friend!  (The other part of me thinks it would be completely scary!)  We shall see!

Posted by Kelly Nelson on March 25, 2008 | Comments (2)