In March of '89 my wife informed me that she was pregnant. I was in shock; I didn't know what to say. I was thrilled, excited, and shocked all at the same time. Just as soon as she told me the news, about a thousand questions rushed through my head. Am I too young to be a father? How will I handle the responsibility of taking care of a child? All of my questions would be answered in due time.

As the next nine months passed, we tried to get everything prepared. I took care of getting the baby's room painted and decorated. I filled it with all the furniture that was needed, a crib, a dresser, and a changing table and of course, a rocking chair. While my wife took care of getting baby clo

I was up late the night of December 14th watching a movie when my wife woke up. She came into the room and told me she wasn't feeling very well. Neither one of us thought much about it, but she was having a contraction. A few minutes later she was complaining her stomach was hurting again. Finally it occurred to me that she might be in labor. The next time she felt something, we checked the time. The contractions were about two minutes apart. So I called the hospital, grabbed her bag, and loaded my wife into the car. At this point, we both realized how important the birthing classes were, and she started to breathe out her contraction.

When we arrived at the hospital, the people from admission had her paperwork waiting for us as we walked in. They wheeled my wife up to her room. After we got settled in, I called all my relatives to tell them it was time. Within thirty minutes everyone was there. They were all excited and nervous.

I can remember one of the visits to the doctor's office. We were able to listen to the baby's heartbea

Some common words found in the essay are:
, James Duncan, care getting, strange looking, birthing classes,
Approximate Word count = 703
Approximate Pages = 3 (250 words per page double spaced)