Waiting for It to Pass

As I walked toward the hospital, I paused every once in awhile to wait for the contractions to pass. I was now unable to walk through them. I remember holding on to iron fencing at Fordham's Lincoln Center Campus as the pain grew more intense. New Yorkers are great. Don't let anyone tell you otherwise. A couple of people stopped and asked me if they could help me. I said I would be fine once the contraction passed and that I was almost to the hospital. Now some folks probably think I was nuts to do this. But it seemed perfectly reasonable to me. I had been "training" for a natural birth so everything I knew was about moving through labor. I hoped this walk would make the baby come sooner. It was at the gates of Fordham that I did have some doubts about my plan though. At that point what else could I do? I kept putting one foot in front of the other. I don't remember much more of the walk after I had held on to the gate. My focus turned inward and the city melted away.