It was a cold, crisp morning in the Berkshires and I was driving like a madman, running lights, trying for all the world to get stopped by the local constable as a baby was on the way and I wanted an escort to Dr. Ray Haling’s Birth Center. Well, there was no police car anywhere, but I did manage to get to the small white house safely and quickly, and the process continued. I was terrified…there is no manual for becoming a first time dad and I was simply going along with the flow. Dr. Haling and his wife (a nurse and midwife) were as calm as could be. We were escorted up to a very comfortable bedroom with a queen size bed where, complications not withstanding, the birth would take place (for those worried, the house was directly across from Berkshire Medical Center and we had signed consent forms that, should he deem it necessary we would be taken, without question, to the hospital).

The labor was moving along, and for those gentlemen reading this, presents pain like nothing I had ever seen and even now I remember seeing it, I could go into the details but won’t you can read those anywhere. I’ll leave it at my part in the play being the left stirrup and covered in all kinds of fluid as I did the best I could to pay attention to the things I learned during the Lamaze classes.

Once the head crowned, Dr. Haling encouraged me to shift positions and to actually “catch” the baby…talk about being scared, I originally turned him down, but he again, very calmly (so calm that he was listening to a Notre Dame game on the radio periodically leaving the room to catch the score) suggested I do it, and said “it is something you will remember forever”. So I took up my post, got into my best Yogi Berra stance holding the now crowning head in my hands and saying to my self “no batter, no batter”….and there she was…(and yes, in the time before the production now known as gender reveal we didn’t know until that moment what the sex was, but now we did…I held her for a few moments as the Ray and his wife smiled, and her mom now could breathe without the shattering pains and they guided me into getting the placenta out as well. They took her, cleaned her up, gave her the APGAR scores and gave her back to us. I was speechless (honestly…totally speechless), they left us alone after her mom had taken a shower (that’s what she wanted to do immediately and for good reasons) and we simply sat with her and marveled at what had just happened.

About two hours later, our neighbors arrived with some celebratory pizza and champagne and then that was followed by a visit from Dr. Rosenfeld, the pediatrician, who sat with us for what seemed like a few hours, and guided us through what to expect and what to look for over the next few nights and before her first trip to the office a week later.

After making sure that mom and daughter were medically sound, we went home (no overnight stay that was one of the ideas of using the birth center instead of the hospital) and making our way up the stairs, put Kate Noel, down in her crib where she promptly fell asleep. Her mom was, exhausted and fell asleep quickly herself. I could not sleep a wink, I was scared of doing something wrong (the adrenaline continuing to mix with fear, worry, joy and pure excitement) and kept poking Kate every half hour to make sure she was still breathing (yes she slept that deeply).

Well, it’s now 40 years up the line, the memories still as vivid as they were that day, Kate now has a daughter of her own, a loving spouse and has overcome some pretty serious health issues.

Happy Birthday Kate Noel Fitzpatrick Silgals!!!