Life can change in a moment. All the planning and preparing that’s done will sometimes be nullified when events in life throw you a curveball.
Two nights ago that is exactly what happened to me when my wife woke me suddenly with four eye-popping words, “Clint, my water broke!” Less than three hours later, which felt like 1 hour, our second daughter was born.
Pleasantry of Planning
The birth of our first daughter was much different. We had planned on a scheduled induction, but when my wife’s blood pressure increased in her 38th week, the induction came a bit early. However, it was vastly different from what we experienced a few nights ago.
After my wife’s regularly scheduled appointment the doctor told us to go ahead and go get checked in to be induced later that day. She told us to take our time as there was no emergency or need to rush. She even encouraged us to go grab lunch prior to checking in.
So, we had a nice lunch at one of our favorite restaurants and showed up to receiving around 1:00 in the afternoon. They checked us in, got us settled in our room, and we hung out until the doctors gave her the medicine to induce delivery around 6:00 that evening.
Everything they did was very low-key and laid back. No rushing. My wife started contracting around 11:00 that evening so they gave her epidural around 11:30 p.m. Things progressed well, no complications to this point. Finally, around 3:30 a.m. the nurse said she was in active labor and called our doctor. The doctor arrived at 6:00 a.m. and our first baby girl was delivered at 6:55 a.m.
Just a very pleasant 12 – 15 hour experience for mom, baby, and me.
Flexibility in the Face of Fast & Furious
The story a couple nights ago was very different!
We were not prepared. The plan was to induce again and our expectation was that it would be just as pleasant as with our first daughter. And it wasn’t scheduled for another 2 and 1/2 weeks. Our plan was suddenly ripped out of the works and we had to rapidly adjust.
So, those four words–Clint, my water broke–came as a huge surprise. We didn’t have an overnight bag ready, nor did we have anyone to come watch our 3 year old daughter. In fact, that evening I had just started working on our nursery. It’s still not together by the way.
I was suddenly thrusted out of a deep sleep and a large amount of adrenaline began coursing through my body. I sprung out of bed to get myself ready. My wife was cleaning herself up and getting what she needed for the hospital stay.
My sight was set on getting our daughter out of bed and ready to leave as soon as possible. Once we had everything and got loaded in the truck, my wife told me that contractions were about 2 minutes apart.
Yikes!
Let the Chaos Insue
Finally pulled up to the hospital at around 11:45 p.m. and got my wife checked in. While she was doing that I texted a couple friends to see if they could come get our daughter, but got no response. Fortunately, my wife was also texting some folks and arranged for one of her friends, and the mom of our daughter’s babysitter, to come watch our daughter.
When she arrived we went out to swap the car seat into her car which took us about 30 minutes. She decided to stay in case the baby was born and our daughter could meet her baby sister.
Somewhere around 1:10 a.m. I got to my wife’s delivery room and noticed right away that things were going much faster than with our first. She hadn’t received her epidural yet because they were waiting on her blood labs to come back to make sure they could give her one.
At this point her contractions are just shy of about 30 seconds apart. Her friend, who came to pick up Harper was in the room with our daughter and said she was going to take her out to the waiting area and tell the nurses to get the Anesthesiologist as soon as possible.
He came rushing in at 1:20 a.m. Once he got the line in, my wife yelled “She’s coming! I can feel her coming!”
But she had to sit still to get the epidural done. Once done they got my wife on her back, the OB team came rushing in and gowned up, and after just 4 pushes our second daughter was delivered into this world at 1:37 a.m.
WHEW!
Plan and Be Flexible
I’m a planner. I believe in planning for achieving goals and desired outcomes. Plus I like to know what to expect.
But life doesn’t always follow your plan. This is where flexibility and being able to adapt come into play. And I’ve learned over the years that both are essential for success.
Whether in life, or business, the plans you make won’t always play out. While planning can give you direction and milestones to keep you moving forward, flexibility helps you navigate “mine fields” and still reach your goals.
Planning makes your vision a concrete and tangible. But you can’t be afraid to go off plan and risk at times too. Both planning and flexibility will help you achieve more of your goals.
Prepare for the best. Take risks to get more. And stay open to possibilities you may not have considered.
To Your Freedom and Fulfillment,
Clint
P.S. Momma, Daughter #1, and Baby girl #2 are all doing well. Love abounds at the Barr household.
